Development of Hard X-ray Focusing Optics at Diamond Light Source

The short wavelength of X-rays makes them an excellent choice for probing materials on the nanometer scale and for crystallography of sub-micrometer crystallites. The objective of nanofocusing optics is to produce a small, focused beam size in order to obtain the highest X-ray flux on a small sample or as a fine spatial probe. Achieving nanometer-scale focused X-ray beam sizes puts great demands on the optical elements in an X-ray beamline—the optics must balance the requirements to de-magnify the electron beam X-ray source, to reduce the diffraction-limited focus size, and to minimize the contribution to the focus of aberrations in the optics while collecting the maximum X-ray flux into the focused beam. These requirements dictate that an extreme demagnifying geometry should be employed and that high-specification optical elements must be used. Nanofocusing optics has often been added as an upgrade to existing beamlines at Diamond, extending the range of science that can be carried out. Extreme nanofocusing also forms the basis of new beamlines at Diamond, such as the nanoprobe beamline (I14), which aims to provide sub-30-nm-dimension focused X-ray beams for mapping samples at high spatial resolution. The demand for nanometer-scale diffraction-limited X-ray beams is expected to grow at Diamond and requires corresponding advances in X-ray optics to exploit the present source and future lower emittance storage ring sources; for example, the proposed Diamond II upgrade, projected to give a factor 20 emittance reduction.     

Performance of the infrared microspectroscopy station at SSRF

At the third generation synchrotron light source Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF), the first infrared beamline BL01B has been successfully constructed. The infrared beamline collects both bending magnet and edge radiation. A brief introduction of the infrared beamline design has been given in this article. The infrared microspectroscopy station is equipped with a Nicolet 6700 FTIR spectrometer and a Nicolet Continuum Microscope. The flux at the entrance of the FTIR spectrometer, the intensity profile, the signal to noise ratio (SNR) with different apertures, and the focused spot size of the infrared microspectroscopy station have been measured. The performances with synchrotron radiation infrared source and internal globar source have been compared. The results indicate that the infrared microspectroscopy station at SSRF has the ability of analysis samples in a small area with diffraction limited spatial resolution.     

Increasing FTIR spectromicroscopy speed and resolution through compressive imaging

At the Advanced Light Source at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, we are investigating how to increase both the speed and resolution of synchrotron infrared imaging. Synchrotron infrared beamlines have diffraction-limited spot sizes and high signal to noise, however spectral images must be obtained one point at a time and the spatial resolution is limited by the effects of diffraction. One technique to assist in speeding up spectral image acquisition is described here and uses compressive imaging algorithms. Compressive imaging can potentially attain resolutions higher than allowed by diffraction and/or can acquire spectral images without having to measure every spatial point individually thus increasing the speed of such maps. Here we present and discuss initial tests of compressive imaging techniques performed with ALS Beamline 1.4.3’s Nic-Plan infrared microscope, Beamline 1.4.4 Continuum XL IR microscope, and also with a stand-alone Nicolet Nexus 470 FTIR spectrometer.     

The coherency of synchrotron radiation at Pohang Accelerator Laboratory

The coherency of the synchrotron radiation at Pohang Accelerator Laboratory has been investigated using Young's interferometer. The electron beam size can be measured precisely using the interferometer. An interferogram using 650 nm light at the diagnostics beamline at Pohang Light Source (PLS) has been measured to determine the electron beam distribution and the spatial coherence length. Interferograms obtained by numerical study are compared with experimental results in order to understand the measured data. From this comparison, the electron beam at PLS is revealed to be a Gaussian distribution with a standard deviation of 210 µm. The spatial coherency length of 650 nm light at PLS is measured to be 0.57 cm, and that of 0.1 nm light at PLS is predicted to be 0.88 µm by the same numerical study.     

高能光源增强器束流横向尺寸测量系统设计

高能同步辐射光源的增强器将直线加速器注入的束流加速到储存环所需的能量,为储存环提供高品质的电子束。为了对增强器的束流横向截面尺寸、发射度及能散进行测量,设计了两条可见光-紫外波段的束测光束线。两条光束线分别选取无色散和色散较大的两处弯铁位置作为光源点,使用两套同步光成像系统来监测光源点的束流截面尺寸,并计算束流发射度及能散。介绍了同步光引出真空室及光学成像系统,对影响成像质量的空间分辨率进行了分析,并针对升能过程中不同能量下束流光斑变化的测量进行了设计。     

A sagittally focusing double‐multilayer monochromator for ultrafast X‐ray imaging applications

The development of a sagittally focusing double‐multilayer monochromator is reported, which produces a spatially extended wide‐bandpass X‐ray beam from an intense synchrotron bending‐magnet source at the Advanced Photon Source, for ultrafast X‐ray radiography and tomography applications. This monochromator consists of two W/B₄C multilayers with a 25 Å period coated on Si single‐crystal substrates. The second multilayer is mounted on a sagittally focusing bender, which can dynamically change the bending radius of the multilayer in order to condense and focus the beam to various points along the beamline. With this new apparatus, it becomes possible to adjust the X‐ray beam size to best match the area detector size and the object size to facilitate more efficient data collection using ultrafast X‐ray radiography and tomography.     

Upgrading design of the 3B1A beamline for x-ray nanometre lithography of microelectronic devices at BSRF

Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility is a partly dedicated synchrotron radiation source operated in either parasitic or dedicated mode. The 3B1A beamline, extracted from a bending magnet, was originally designed as a soft x-ray beamline for submicro x-ray lithography with critical lateral size just below 1μm in 1988 and no change has been made since it was built. But later the required resolution of x-ray lithography has changed from sub-micrometre to the nanometre in the critical lateral size. This beamline can longer more meet the requirement for x-ray nano lithography and has to be modified to fit the purpose. To upgrade the design of the 3B1A beamline for x-ray nano lithography, a mirror is used to reflect and scan the x-ray beam for the nano lithography station, but the mirror's grazing angle is changed to 27.9mrad in the vertical direction, and the convex curve needs to be modified to fit the change; the tiny change of mirror scanning angle is firstly considered to improve the uniformity of the x-ray spot on the wafer by controlling the convex curve.     

In-line X-ray lensless imaging with lithium fluoride film detectors

In this work, we present preliminary in-line X-ray lensless projection imaging results at a synchrotron facility by using novel solid-state detectors based on non-destructive readout of photoluminescent colour centres in lithium fluoride thin films. The peculiarities of LiF radiation detectors are high spatial resolution on a large field of view, wide dynamic range, versatility and simplicity of use. These properties offered the opportunity to test a broadband X-ray synchrotron source for lensless projection imaging experiments at the TopoTomo beamline of the ANKA synchrotron facility by using a white beam spectrum (3–40 keV). Edge-enhancement effects were observed for the first time on a test object; they are discussed and compared with simulations, on the basis of the colour centre photoluminescence linear response found in the investigated irradiation conditions.     

First experiments on the Australian Synchrotron Imaging and Medical beamline,including investigations of the effective source size in respect of X‐ray imaging

The Imaging and Medical beamline at the Australian Synchrotron achieved `first light' in December 2008. Here, the first experiments performed on the beamline are reported, which involved both X‐ray imaging and tomography studies for a range of samples. The use of a plastic‐edge phantom for quantitative measurements of contrast and resolution proved to be very instructive and helped to confirm certain parameter values such as the effective horizontal source size, detector resolution and average X‐ray energy for the polychromatic beam.     

Development of dispersive XAFS system for analysis of time‐resolved spatial distribution of electrode reaction

Apparatus for a technique based on the dispersive optics of X‐ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) has been developed at beamline BL‐5 of the Synchrotron Radiation Center of Ritsumeikan University. The vertical axis of the cross section of the synchrotron light is used to disperse the X‐ray energy using a cylindrical polychromator and the horizontal axis is used for the spatially resolved analysis with a pixel array detector. The vertically dispersive XAFS (VDXAFS) instrument was designed to analyze the dynamic changeover of the inhomogeneous electrode reaction of secondary batteries. The line‐shaped X‐ray beam is transmitted through the electrode sample, and then the dispersed transmitted X‐rays are detected by a two‐dimensional detector. An array of XAFS spectra in the linear footprint of the transmitted X‐ray on the sample is obtained with the time resolution of the repetition frequency of the detector. Sequential measurements of the space‐resolved XAFS data are possible with the VDXAFS instrument. The time and spatial resolutions of the VDXAFS instrument depend on the flux density of the available X‐ray beam and the size of the light source, and they were estimated as 1 s and 100 µm, respectively. The electrode reaction of the LiFePO₄ lithium ion battery was analyzed during the constant current charging process and during the charging process after potential jumping.     

A beamline for time resolved photoelectron microscopy on magnetic materials at the Swiss light source

We describe the “Surface/Interface: Microscopy” beamline currently under construction at the Paul Scherrer Institut. This beamline will use a photoemission electron microscope to study the electronic and magnetic structure of materials. Its photon energy range will be 94–2000 eV.

To allow time resolved measurements with millisecond resolution we use a new scheme allowing to switch the photon helicity optically without perturbing the electron orbit. Two identical elliptical insertion devices are placed behind each other in the same straight section. They can produce light with opposing helicities. These two sources are separated horizontally by introducing a small static parallel offset in the electron orbit. Switching between the two rays of opposite helicities is done mechanically at the horizontal focus behind the monochromator. The two sources are brought to overlap on the sample by slightly defocussing the refocussing mirror.

A commercial microscope (Δx20 nm resolution) is adapted to the synchrotron by various upgrades. These include a software combining microscope and beamline control, a computer controlled mechanical alignment system, a separate sample preparation chamber, and sample cooling using liquid nitrogen. The beamline will be available for user operation in 2002.     

A new optical scheme for large‐extraction small‐aberration vacuum‐ultraviolet synchrotron radiation beamlines

Vacuum‐ultraviolet radiation delivered by bending‐magnet sources is used at numerous synchrotron radiation facilities worldwide. As bending‐magnet radiation is inherently much less collimated compared with undulator sources, the generation of high‐quality intense bending‐magnet vacuum‐ultraviolet photon beams is extremely demanding in terms of the optical layout due to the necessary larger collection apertures. In this article, an optimized optical layout which takes into account both the optical and electron beam properties is proposed. This layout delivers an improved beam emittance of over one order of magnitude compared with existing vacuum‐ultraviolet bending‐magnet beamlines that, up to now, do not take into account electron beam effects. The arrangement is made of two dedicated mirrors, a cylindrical and a cone‐shaped one, that focus independently both the horizontal and the vertical emission of a bending‐magnet source, respectively, and has been already successfully applied in the construction of the infrared beamline at the Brazilian synchrotron. Using this scheme, two vacuum‐ultraviolet beamline designs based on a SOLEIL synchrotron bending‐magnet source are proposed and analysed. They would be useful for future upgrades to the DISCO beamline at SOLEIL and could be readily implemented at other synchrotron radiation facilities.     

A high resolution spectrometer using nuclear Bragg diffraction

A high resolution spectrometer for synchrotron radiation using nuclear Bragg diffraction has been constructed at a DORIS beamline (DESY, Hamburg). This spectrometer provides a γ-ray beam for hyperfine spectroscopy and for other application which need high resolution in energy and/or time.     

HAXPES beamline PES‐BL14 at the Indus‐2 synchrotron radiation source

The Hard X‐ray Photo‐Electron Spectroscopy (HAXPES) beamline (PES‐BL14), installed at the 1.5 T bending‐magnet port at the Indian synchrotron (Indus‐2), is now available to users. The beamline can be used for X‐ray photo‐emission electron spectroscopy measurements on solid samples. The PES beamline has an excitation energy range from 3 keV to 15 keV for increased bulk sensitivity. An in‐house‐developed double‐crystal monochromator [Si (111)] and a platinum‐coated X‐ray mirror are used for the beam monochromatization and manipulation, respectively. This beamline is equipped with a high‐energy (up to 15 keV) high‐resolution (meV) hemispherical analyzer with a microchannel plate and CCD detector system with SpecsLab Prodigy and CasaXPS software. Additional user facilities include a thin‐film laboratory for sample preparation and a workstation for on‐site data processing. In this article, the design details of the beamline, other facilities and some recent scientific results are described.     

High‐performance X‐ray detectors for the new powder diffraction beamline I11 at Diamond

The design and performance characterization of a new light‐weight and compact X‐ray scintillation detector is presented. The detectors are intended for use on the new I11 powder diffraction beamline at the third‐generation Diamond synchrotron facility where X‐ray beams of high photon brightness are generated by insertion devices. The performance characteristics of these detection units were measured first using a radioactive source (efficiency of detection and background count rate) and then synchrotron X‐rays (peak stability, light yield linearity and response consistency). Here, the results obtained from these tests are reported, and the suitability of the design for the Diamond powder beamline is demonstrated by presenting diffraction data obtained from a silicon powder standard using a prototype multicrystal analyser stage.     

Optimization of the low energy electron point source microscope: imaging of macromolecules.

Optimal conditions for low energy electron point source microscopy are investigated by the simulation and numerical reconstruction of holograms of phthalocyaninato polysiloxane, PcPS, a rod-like macromolecule. The effects of the electron energy, width of the electron beam and the detector size on the spatial resolution in the reconstructed images are modeled. We find that for electron energies around 200eV, with the specimen 0.1 microm from the source, a screen recording the image in a cone of at least 15 degrees half angle (7 cm lateral dimension at 10 cm from the source) with at least 512 x 512 pixel and 8-bit resolution will result in near atomic resolution.     

Pump−probe experiments at the TEMPO beamline using the low‐α operation mode of Synchrotron SOLEIL

The SOLEIL synchrotron radiation source is regularly operated in special filling modes dedicated to pump–probe experiments. Among others, the low‐α mode operation is characterized by shorter pulse duration and represents the natural bridge between 50 ps synchrotron pulses and femtosecond experiments. Here, the capabilities in low‐α mode of the experimental set‐ups developed at the TEMPO beamline to perform pump–probe experiments with soft X‐rays based on photoelectron or photon detection are presented. A 282 kHz repetition‐rate femtosecond laser is synchronized with the synchrotron radiation time structure to induce fast electronic and/or magnetic excitations. Detection is performed using a two‐dimensional space resolution plus time resolution detector based on microchannel plates equipped with a delay line. Results of time‐resolved photoelectron spectroscopy, circular dichroism and magnetic scattering experiments are reported, and their respective advantages and limitations in the framework of high‐time‐resolution pump–probe experiments compared and discussed.     

Versatility of a hard X‐ray Kirkpatrick–Baez focus characterized by ptychography

In the past decade Kirkpatrick–Baez (KB) mirrors have been established as powerful focusing systems in hard X‐ray microscopy applications. Here a ptychographic characterization of the KB focus in the dedicated nano‐imaging setup GINIX (Göttingen Instrument for Nano‐Imaging with X‐rays) at the P10 coherence beamline of the PETRA III synchrotron at HASLYLAB/DESY, Germany, is reported. More specifically, it is shown how aberrations in the KB beam, caused by imperfections in the height profile of the focusing mirrors, can be eliminated using a pinhole as a spatial filter near the focal plane. A combination of different pinhole sizes and illumination conditions of the KB setup makes the prepared optical setup well suited not only for high‐resolution ptychographic coherent X‐ray diffractive imaging but also for moderate‐resolution/large‐field‐of‐view propagation imaging in the divergent KB beam.     

Optimization of the design for beamline with fast polarization switching elliptically polarized undulators

Fast switching of X‐ray polarization with a lock‐in amplifier is a good method for acquiring weak signals from background noise for X‐ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) experiments. The usual way to obtain a beam with fast polarization switching is to use two series of elliptically polarized undulators (tandem twin EPUs). The two EPUs generate two individual beams. Each beam has a different polarization and is fast switched into the beamline. It is very important to ensure that the energy resolution, the flux and the spot size at the sample of the two beams are equal in XMCD experiments. However, it is difficult in beamline design because the distances from the two EPUs to the beamline optics are different and the beamline is not switchable. In this work, a beamline design without an entrance slit for fast polarization switching EPUs is discussed. The energy resolution of the two beams can be tuned to be equal by minor rotation of the optics in the monochromator. The flux of the two beams can be balanced through separation blades X, Y in the exit slit, and by adjusting the position of the X blades along the beam. The spot size of the two beams can be adjusted to be equal by shifting the sample as well.