issue contents
May 2016 issue
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Cover illustration: 3D volume rendering of the multimodal tomogram of a fossil single-cell foraminifera (see Bergamaschi, Medjoubi, Messaoudi, Marco and Somogyi, pages 783-794). Scanning multi-technique tomography provides simultaneous structural and elemental information for the study of heavy metal incorporation mechanisms during bio-mineralization processes. The different contrast modalities were reconstructed by the MMX-I data-processing software developed at the Nanoscopium beamline of Synchrotron Soleil. The reconstructed phase is shown in grey, the dark field is in blue, the iron distribution is in red and the calcium distribution is marked in yellow in thefigures.
facility information
research papers
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Simulation of THz streaking of photoelectrons created by X-ray pulses from a free-electron laser and reconstruction of the free-electron laser pulse lengths.
The design of a versatile cryogenic insert with electrical connections configured to perform electrical transport measurements on devices is described. This insert enables XAS at the DEIMOS beamline at the SOLEIL synchrotron to probe in situ the interplay between magnetic and electrical orders in novel materials such as multiferroics.
The achievements of a sapphire hard X-ray resonator are described.
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DABAM, an open-source database of X-ray mirrors metrology to be used with ray-tracing and wave-propagation codes for simulating the effect of the surface errors on the performance of a synchrotron radiation beamline.
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X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy is performed using a dual counter pixel array detector at a frame rate of 11.8 kHz with no readout dead-time.
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Evaluating scintillator performance in time-resolved hard X-ray studies at synchrotron light sources
Scintillator performance in time-resolved, hard, indirect detection X-ray studies on the sub-microsecond timescale at synchrotron light sources is reviewed, modelled and examined experimentally. LYSO:Ce is found to be the only commercially available crystal suitable for these experiments.
A sample cell for in situ electric-field-dependent structural characterization and macroscopic strain measurements is demonstrated. The results show that the macroscopic strain measured using the cell can be directly correlated with the microscopic response of the material obtained from diffraction data.
Besides femtosecond X-ray pulses, synchrotron-based laser-slicing sources inherently produce a halo background with a different time structure, polarization and pointing direction. A detailed experimental characterization of this halo radiation at the FemtoSpeX facility at BESSY II is presented, and a method for its correct and unambiguous removal from femtosecond time-resolved data using a dedicated laser triggering scheme as well as analytical models is demonstrated.
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High-speed (submicrosecond) translation and rotation of crystals are tracked in real time via simultaneous synchrotron X-ray imaging and Laue diffraction.
A four-stage model for the sintering process of PVP-coated silver nanoparticles is described.
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The use of grazing-incidence X-ray diffraction to determine the crystal structure from thin films requires accurate positions of Bragg peaks. Refraction effects and multiple scattering events have to be corrected or minimized.
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A linearly polarized hard X-ray photoemission system has been developed for studying the ground-state symmetry of strongly correlated materials.
A room-temperature flow in situ electrosynthesis cell suitable for X-ray absorption spectroscopy with fluorescence detection is described. The small sample volume requirements and control over the solution flow profile make possible reliable measurements of photosensitive compounds and protein samples.
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The optical phases between undulator segments are tuned so that selected polarized light from an in-phase undulator survives through the monochromator.
A simple and reliable method of obtaining local geometric structural information around a uranium absorber in uranyl species by quantitative XANES analysis was developed.
A new methodology that offers both time-resolved and simultaneous spatial-resolved XAFS information was successfully implemented and tested at the BAMline at BESSY II.
Synchrotron-radiation-based micro-computed tomography was used to study dental bur debris of metallic nature under a composite restorative dental filling material. The debris is made of tungsten carbide–cobalt, which is bio-incompatible.
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The MMX-I open-source software has been developed for processing and reconstruction of large multimodal X-ray imaging and tomography datasets. The recent version of MMX-I is optimized for scanning X-ray fluorescence, phase-, absorption- and dark-field contrast techniques. This, together with its implementation in Java, makes MMX-I a versatile and friendly user tool for X-ray imaging.
Propagation-based phase contrast imaging of soybean leaves (control and with UV exclusion) has been performed using synchrotron radiation.
A study is presented on the optimization and utilization of synchrotron radiation inline phase-contrast imaging combined with computed tomography for visualizing multi-component hybrid constructs used for cartilage tissue engineering applications and characterizing structural changes in these hybrid constructs over a 42-day in vitro culture.
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Synchrotron-based X-ray phase propagation CT is used to visualize and measure amyloid beta accumulation in mouse brains. This technique improves the resolution, the acquisition speed and the X-ray dose if compared with previous methods.
short communications
The new setup for synchrotron-radiation-induced TXRF and TXRF-XANES at BAMline BESSY II is described and characterized.
beamlines
A new multifunctional diffractometer based on the Dectris Pilatus 2M detector has been constructed, commissioned and offered to users. The diffractometer combines a fast and low-noise area detector together with flexible goniometry for sample and detector positioning and orientation.
A laser pump/X-ray probe system has been established for picosecond resolution X-ray diffraction detection at wiggler beamline 1W2B at the BSRF parasitic lightsource.
A new Johann-type X-ray emission spectrometer recently installed at Rossendorf beamline of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility is described.
computer programs
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The integration of two Python toolboxes used for processing tomographic data, TomoPy and the ASTRA toolbox, is presented.
addenda and errata
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A correction is made to a citation in the article by Antipov et al. (2016) [J. Synchrotron Rad. 23, 163–168].
current events
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