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September 2014 issue
Special issue on Diffraction-Limited Storage Rings and New Science Opportunities
Guest Editors: Mikael Eriksson and J. Friso van der Veen
Cover illustration: Artistic impression of the new MAX IV facility, currently under construction in Lund, Sweden, and one of a new generation of storage-ring-based synchrotron light sources employing a multibend achromat lattice to reach emittances in the few hundred pm rad range in a circumference of a few hundred metres. This special issue on Diffraction-Limited Storage Rings (DLSRs) contains 22 articles connecting recent advances in accelerator technology with the new science that can be done at upcoming and future DLSRs (see the summary by Eriksson, van der Veen and Quitmann, pages 837-842). [Image courtesy of FOJAB arkitekter.]
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diffraction-limited storage rings
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The contributions in this special issue on Diffraction-Limited Storage Rings (DLSRs) are summarized, connecting recent advances in accelerator technology with the new science that can be done at upcoming and future DLSRs.
The design and plans for implementing fourth-generation and diffraction-limited storage rings around the world are discussed.
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The first proposed lattice for a `diffraction-limited light source' is reported. This approach has now more or less been used for the MAX IV project.
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The design of the MAX IV 3 GeV ultralow-emittance storage ring is presented and the implementation of solutions to the technological challenges imposed by the compact multi-bend achromat lattice are described.
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A compact lattice and small magnet apertures will be the main characteristics of future diffraction-limited storage rings, adding difficulties for the design of the vacuum system of these machines. The use of NEG coatings and distributed absorbers could provide a solution to overcome these challenges.
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The magnet design of the MAX IV 3 GeV storage ring replaces the conventional support girder + discrete magnets scheme of previous third-generation light sources with a compact integrated design having several consecutive magnet elements precision-machined out of a common solid iron block.
The lattice design and beam dynamics optimization for Sirius, a new low-emittance synchrotron light source presently under construction at the Brazilian Synchrotron Light Laboratory in Campinas, Brazil, is presented.
A description of the challenges and potential of fourth-generation storage-ring light sources based on the multi-bend achromat concept is given.
An overview of beam collective effects in diffraction-limited storage rings is given. The relation of a very low emittance machine and its stored beam to the former is described.
Approaches to generating short X-ray pulses with storage rings are discussed, with emphasis on the methods of using superconducting harmonic cavities and injecting short bunches for multi-turn circulation.
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State-of-the-art ex situ metrology for characterizing the quality of ultraprecise reflective synchrotron optics is reported. Beside slope measuring deflecometry the current state of mirror coating technology for single layer and multilayer coatings for very long mirror substrates is discussed.
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Developments of optics for coherent X-ray applications and their role in diffraction-limited storage rings are described.
A comprehensive review of some of the challenges in scientific instrumentation encountered by the ESRF in the context of the preparation of the Phase II of its upgrade programme is presented.
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X-ray scanning microscopy greatly benefits from a reduced emittance of synchrotron radiation sources, especially from a diffraction-limited storage ring. Nanofocusing is discussed in view of focus size, flux and coherence.
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Two-dimensional detector improvements required to take advantage of diffraction-limited storage ring light sources are discussed.
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The foreseen increase in coherent flux provided by diffraction-limited storage rings will allow ptychography to reach unprecedented throughput while retaining its inherently quantitative nature and metrological versatility.
Current capabilities of X-ray spectromicroscopy and coherent diffraction imaging are described. The impact on these methods of the dramatic increase in brightness expected from a diffraction-limited storage ring is discussed in the context of research in energy materials and processes.
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Nanoscale X-ray scanning microscopes, or X-ray nanoprobes, will benefit greatly from diffraction-limited storage rings. Here the requirements for nanoscale fluorescence tomography are explored to gain insight into the scientific opportunities and technical challenges that such sources offer.
The scientific opportunities for microARPES and nanoARPES techniques are discussed, and the benefits to these techniques at diffraction-limited light sources are presented, in particular the impact on spectromicroscopic ARPES of upgrading the Advanced Light Source to diffraction-limited performance.
The future possibilities of X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy at diffraction-limited storage rings are reviewed.
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Diffraction-limited storage rings will allow for pushing the achievable energy resolution, signal intensity and the sampled spot size in resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS) experiments to new limits. In this article the types of improved soft X-ray RIXS studies that will become possible with these instrumental improvements are envisioned.
Possible future directions for high-pressure science on fourth-generation storage rings are presented.
The emerging opportunities for X-ray spectroscopy-based studies of working catalysts at diffraction-limited storage ring sources are discussed. The high photon flux of nanometer-size beams will enable electronic, structural and dynamic investigations of single catalytic particles in space and time domains.
lead articles
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The layout and commissioning of the upgraded time-slicing facility FemtoSpeX at BESSY II is described. A new approach to femtoslicing based on a separated twin amplifier scheme linked by a single joint seed oscillator has been used. With a successful upgrade in repetition rate, the installation of a novel high-flux monochromator and a new background-suppression scheme based on hopping between different `camshaft' bunches, combined with a local orbit bump in the electron beam, the slicing efficiency, its stability and the laser performance are significantly enhanced. Owing to these considerable improvements, new methods in resonant diffraction and reflection are now feasible that pave the way for new exciting experiments in the field of ultrafast magnetism and phase transitions in solids.
research papers
A Ronchi interferometer for hard X-rays was used to characterize the performance of nanofocusing optics and beamline stability. The interferometer proved capable of obtaining qualitative data on optics aberrations, beamline spatial coherence, and pin-point vibrations and drift of beamline components.
The implementation and benchmarking of a wave-optics method for the simulation of grazing-incidence mirrors based on the local propagation of the radiation electric field along geometrical rays is described. The proposed method is CPU-efficient, fully compatible with the numerical methods of Fourier optics, and has been implemented in the SRW code.
Results of ptychographic characterization of point focusing with multilayer Laue lenses are discussed. Analysis of an integrated test sample shows the potential of this set-up for future measurements.
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An atomic force microscope has been developed for combination with sub-micrometer focused X-ray diffraction at synchrotron beamlines and in situ mechanical tests on single nanostructures.
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A combined X-ray diffraction and thermal imaging technique is described to investigate the effect of thermal gradients on high-temperature composite materials.
A new principal-component-analysis-based method to extract the number of meaningful pure component XAFS spectra from unresolved multicomponent mixture spectra is presented. On both real and simulated mixtures it is shown that the new method is robust and outperforms the traditional forms of principal-component-analysis-based component-number estimation. A graphical data-analysis tool is provided for download.
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In situ time-resolved XANES measurements of Au ions in an aqueous solution in the presence of support materials were performed under synchrotron X-ray irradiation. The synchrotron X-ray-induced reduction of Au ions leads to the formation of Au nanoparticles on the carbon particles, acrylic cell or polyimide window. The deposited Au metallic spots were affected by the wettability of carbon particles.
The radiation chemical analysis of X-ray-induced contrast enhancement in soft X-ray microscopy of hawk moth eye tissue shows that pre-illumination can foster biological X-ray imaging and gives insight into various radiation-induced decomposition pathways with high relevance for X-ray microspectroscopy.
CO2 microbubbles as a contrast agent were fabricated and a velocity field of 40% hematocrit blood flows was acquired using the synchrotron X-ray particle image velocimetry technique.
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The advantages of a novel wide dynamic range hard X-ray detector are demonstrated for (ptychographic) coherent X-ray diffractive imaging.
The Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility transmission X-ray microscope reveals the internal three-dimensional microstructure and functional parameters of poly(lactic co-glycolic acid) microspheres.
Modeling and fitting the response of each pixel in a 6 Mpixel photon-counting array detector allowed recovery of monochromatic X-ray images from a composite by energy-dispersive spectroscopy.
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A collaborative framework for the analysis of synchrotron tomographic data which has the potential to unify the effort of different facilities and beamlines performing similar tasks is described. The proposed Python-based framework is open-source, platform- and data-format-independent, has multiprocessing capability and supports functional programming that many researchers prefer.
beamlines
The optical design of a beamline dedicated to spectroscopy and scattering with picosecond X-ray pulses generated by the RF deflection of the electrons in a storage ring is described. The requirements for canceling the effect of off-axis radiation lengthening the duration of the picosecond pulses are detailed.
Advances in synchrotron beamlines bring opportunities with accompanying challenges for the study of soft condensed (biological) matter. This article describes improvements to the BioCAT beamline that include micro-focus, scanning and cryo-cooling of soft connective tissues yielding X-ray data from whole rat-tail tendons to better than 4 Å.
computer programs
A demostration of the computer program MANTiS (for Multivariate ANalysis Tool for Spectromicroscopy) for analysis of X-ray spectromicroscopy data is presented.
laboratory notes
A simple design and easily installed tool for coaxial laser alignment has been developed for time-sharing undulator beamlines at Taiwan Light Source.
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