Soft x-ray absorption and x-ray magnetic circular dichroism

The beamline provides x-ray absorption spectroscopy facilities in the soft x-ray region. This technique is mainly used to study the chemical environment and valence for low atomic number elements. Extensively used for materials research and hence will be useful to industries that have an active R&D program in materials and chemicals.

Engineering applications

This beamline is used for determination of the locked stress in bulk samples, thin films welded joints, industrial components etc. using x-ray diffraction in energy dispersive and angle dispersive modes. The beamline has a goniometer with capacity to mount samples up to length of 500 mm and weight of 10 kg. An in-situ straining system will be integrated with the experimental station to determine the x-ray elastic constants of materials

Soft x-ray reflectivity

The beamline is designed for x-ray reflectivity, absorption and transmission measurements in the soft x-ray region, for optical and structural characterization of thin films (thickness in 10-150 nm range). Angle dependent reflectivity and absorption measurements are useful for determining depth resolved chemical and electronic properties of materials specially for low z elements. Performance of x-ray optical elements and soft x-ray detectors can be evaluated for samples up to 300 mm length and 5 kg weight.

Imaging

Beamline is used for a) x-ray phase contrast imaging and 3D x-ray micro-tomographic imaging: visualization of micro-structural features and density mapping in soft materials such as polymers, composites, pharmaceutical tablets and biological tissues, b) in-situ and real-time x-ray radiography and tomography: visualization of changes in micro-structure and density under compression/tensile load, high/low temperature, gas flow, chemical etc. Sample size: Typically, 1-10 mm for micro-tomography, 100 mm for radiography, smallest feature visible ~2 µm.

X-ray Lithography

The beamline has been designed to make microstructures using the process of x-ray lithography. Facilities for making masks to be used at the beamline up to a lateral feature size of about 5 µm is available for users.

Dispersive Extended x-ray Absorption Fine Structure (EXAFS)

EXAFS is a technique for determination of local structure and ionic state of atoms in a material in crystalline state, in amorphous materials, glasses, and liquids. This beamline is designed to record complete EXAFS spectra in fraction of a minute, and therefore useful for time resolved measurements such as progress of a chemical reaction. The beamline can also be used for in-situ annealing studies on films deposited on thin substrates like quartz, sapphire etc.

Scanning EXAFS

Scanning EXAFS beamline is designed for experiments requiring high resolution and/or fluorescence mode of measurements which are not possible at BL-08. EXAFS spectra can be recorded for dilute samples, liquid samples, and thin films deposited on thick substrates. The EXAFS measurements can be carried out at low temperature down to 10 K and high-temperature up to 1000 K.

Extreme conditions x-ray diffraction beamline

This beamline is designed to carry out x-ray diffraction measurements at high temperature (up to 1000oC) and high pressures. It has been used extensively by the high-pressure physics community. Powder diffraction measurements are also performed regularly at ambient conditions. Custom made experimental station depending on user requirements is also possible.

Angle dispersive x-ray diffraction beamline

This beamline is designed for carrying out x-ray diffraction measurements on powder samples, thin films, epitaxial layers and single crystals. In addition to ambient conditions, low temperatures down to 4 K, high temperatures up to 700 K (in air) and at high pressures are possible. Besides determination of structures in crystalline materials, short and medium range order in amorphous materials can also be studied.

Grazing incidence x-ray scattering

Beamline is meant to study thin films and interfaces. Facilities for low temperature measurements will be available soon.

Hard x-ray Photo-Electron Spectroscopy

The beamline is used to study the elemental composition and chemical state of elements in near surface region of solids. Synchrotron based high energy x-ray photo-electron spectroscopy (XPS) has advantages of providing information from much deeper (~20 nm) region below the surface as compared to conventional lab sources.

X-ray fluorescence microprobe

The beamline is used to study materials in solids, liquid and thin films using x-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy enabling quantitative elemental compositions of different materials along with the chemical state of the element. The beamline also offers the capability to determine the depth resolved chemical composition of thin layered materials of thickness in the range of 2 nm – 100 nm, with 0.2 nm resolution.

Small and Wide-Angle X-ray Scattering (SWAXS)

The beamline is designed to probe the mesoscopic structures in the range of ~2 nm to 150 nm (small angle scattering mode) in nano-structured materials, soft matters, porous materials, membranes, alloys, proteins macromolecules, polymers etc. to provide information about size/size distribution, particle shape, nature of correlation among particles etc. Wide angle mode can probe further smaller length scale up to ~3 Å. Facilities for temperature dependent measurements will be available soon.

Protein crystallography

This is useful to determine the structures of proteins and other macromolecules which forms single crystals of larger unit cell parameters. These structures are essential for understanding the human diseases at molecular level and important steps towards rational drug discovery process. It is also important for protein-based biotech industry. The beamline is also complemented with a state-of-art biochemistry lab for making protein crystals, thereby enabling significant in-house research.