XAS Beamlines

The core EXAFS beamline, B18, is characterised by a wide energy range, a focused beam and a continuous scanning monochromator. These characteristics allow for the efficient collection of XAS data on all elements heavier than phosphorus.

The recent implementation of a fluorescence mapping tool has enabled new experiments to be performed on the beamline.

Benefits:

• Wide energy range (2-35 keV)
• Quick EXAFS mode enabling single XAS spectrum to be collected in a few seconds to a few minutes
• Provides access to all elements ranging from phosphorous and sulphur up to the actinides
• Enables a range of combined set-ups: XAS/XRD, XAS/DRIFTS, XAS/Raman, XAS/UV-Vis
• Enables time-resolved and in situ conditions
• Flexible to accommodate various sample environments

Best For:

• Heterogeneous systems
• Corrosion mechanisms
• Novel materials for renewable energy storage
• New battery materials under different operating conditions

The microfocus spectroscopy beamline, I18, uses 2 x 2 µm² beam to examine heterogeneous materials on the micrometre scale using a variety of techniques, such as XRF, XANES and XRD.

Benefits:

• Allows structural investigations of complex systems
• Provides special resolution of down to 2 microns 
• Enables investigations of materials in hostile environments
• Dedicated optics for µ-focus allows the mapping of elements in complex samples
• Enables combined experiments, such as XRF tomography, XAS-CT, XRD-CT, XAS/XRF, XRD/XRF

Best For:

• Complex samples and challenging conditions/hostile environments.
• Real systems such as mineral samples returned from space
• Anti-cancer drug candidates for tumours

The scanning branch of I20 exploits the high flux provided by the wiggler, delivering to two different set-ups/techniques:

1) XAS uses 64 64-element monolithic germanium detector with a very fast read-out system to examine the struture of very low concentration samples.
2) X-ray Emission Spectroscopy (XES) is dedicated to perform high-energy resolution studies of the electronic structure. 
 

Benefits:

I20 supports a wide range of applications especially in biology, environmental science, chemistry and materials science.

• Suitable to study very dilluted samples
• Enables the study of local structure and electronic properties of gases, liquids and solid state materials.
• High flux and high spectral purity in energy solution - provides very high data quality

Best For:

• Chemical speciation in porous matrices used for air pollution control
• Metalloproteins
• Photochemical processes
• Solution chemistry of very dilute compositions

The Energy Dispersive EXAFS (EDE) branch of I20 uses a polychromator to perform XAS experiments in a dispersive geometry. It is designed for in situ and operando studies with time resolutions ranging from seconds down to milliseconds, or even microseconds.

Benefits:

• Optimised for in situ time-resolved and extreme conditions
• The whole EDE spectrum is collected simultaneously therefore making it ideal for fast processes 

Best For:

• Wide range of industrial processes such as reactions at solid/gas phase interfaces (high temperature fuel cells) and solid/liquid interfaces (hydrothermal synthesis of materials).
• Transient intermediates under in situ time-resolved conditions
• Materials at pressures up to 20 GPa

The Scanning X-ray Microscopy (SXM) beamline (I08) is dedicated to morphological, elemental and chemical speciation on a broad range of organic-inorganic specimens in a 250-4400 eV photon energy range, and sample investigations under ambient or cryogenic conditions.

Benefits:

• Dedicated to X-ray absorption and phase-sensitive imaging and spectroscopies in real and reciprocal space
• Covers elemental mapping as low-energy X-ray flurorescence (LEXRF) and chemical analysis by X-ray near-edge absorption spectroscopy (XANES)
• Can be combined with complementary imaging and spectroscopic techniques
• Produces high quality spectroscopic data for chemically-sensitive analysis and X-ray fluorescence mapping (XRF) when operating at the upper end of the photon energy range

Best For:

• Nanoscale elemental distribution in biological samples
• Nanoparticles in materials
• Chemical processes at the nanoscopic scale applied in the fields of batteries, fuel cells and catalysis
• Metal interactions in metal-containment soils

The Nanoscience beamline exploits the brightest region in Diamond’s spectrum, providing a high-photon flux density for soft X-ray experiments. It combines microfocused soft X-rays with variable linear and circular polarisation and X-ray photoelectron emission microscopy (PEEM) to provide spectroscopic data on nanometre length scales. The intense polarised beam can be focused to a spot several microns in diameter, allowing the study of nanomagnetism and nanostructures.

Benefits:

• Enables the study of nanomagnetism and nanostructures
• Allows the study of light elements such as carbon, oxygen, nitrogen and sulphur present in the specimen.
• Enables L-edge XANES studies of heavier elements.
• Capable of collecting element-specific data at high spatial resolution (~20nm) 

Best For:

• The structure-function relationship of nanostructures
• The electronic properties and chemical species of complex materials
• The composition of challenging materials

B07 is a Versatile Soft X-ray (VERSOX) beamline with near ambient pressure XPS/NEXAFS (near edge X-ray absorption fine structure) capabilities. The beamline covers a wide range of non-vacuum sample environments and enables high-throughput XPS measurements on multiple samples and in situ NEXAFS studies at up to 1 bar pressure.

Benefits:

• It enables the chemical nature and composition of the near-surface regions of the samples, which are to be characterised using soft X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS).
• Suitable for samples that do not need extreme energy resolution or photon flux but may require non-standard sample environments and detection techniques
• Capable of performing XPS (up to 100 mbar) and NEXAFS experiments under near-ambient pressures (up to 1 bar)

Best For:

• Heterogeneous catalysts
• Pharmaceuticals and biomaterials under realistic conditions
• Environmental and space science studies on liquids and ices
• Heritage conservation
• Electronic and photonic materials.

I14, the Hard X-ray Nanoprobe beamline, offers a small beam of 50 nm for high-resolution imaging with a wide energy range (5-23 keV). The beamline has developed and expanded its capabilities in X-ray fluorescence, diffraction and XANES mapping. Raster scanning capability combined with simple data acquisition software is suitable for fast acquisition and increased sample area coverage.

Benefits:

• Provides the ability to obtain structural and chemically specific information on a full range of materials (inorganic/organic)
• Enables samples to be studied under both static and real (e.g. wet, heated, in situ strain) conditions. 
• Provides a flexible end station, with a beam size of 50 nm, optimised for scanning X-ray fluorescence, X-ray spectroscopy and diffraction

Best For:

• Corroded metal interfaces
• Metallic particles in cells
• Catalysis under in situ conditions
• Photovoltaic films