Environmental Sciences

Beam line 14-3b, located on the downstream table in the BL14-3 hutch, is a bending magnet side station dedicated to x-ray imaging and micro x-ray absorption spectroscopy of biological, biomedical, materials, and geological samples. Most often used for data collection at the S K edge, BL14-3 is the only SSRL beam line capable of XAS at the P K edge. During imaging mode, a SIGRAY axially symmetric mirror system is used to achieve the microfocus with a beam size of ~ 5 x 5 microns, or sub-micron sizes.

Beam line 14-3a, located on the upstream table of the hutch of the BL14-3 bending magnet side station, is dedicated to bulk x-ray absorption spectroscopy of biological, materials, and geological samples in the tender x-ray photon energy range 2.1-5.0 keV. BL14-3 is the only beam line at SSRL capable of obtaining spectroscopy data at the phosphorous K edge. In this configuration the beam is unfocused over a size of 1 mm x 6 mm to allow for high energy-resolution measurements on homogenous samples.

Beam line 11-3 is a fixed energy (12.7 keV) wiggler side-station dedicated primarily for wide angle x-ray scattering (WAXS). BL11-3 is equipped with a two-dimensional Rayonix MX225 CCD area detector. Supports sample-to-detector distances of 80-550 mm. There are sample environments available for both transmission and grazing incidence geometries. Sample heating is available for both single sample transmission and grazing incidence geometries.

Beam line 11-2 is a high-flux XAS station dedicated to molecular biogeochemical and interface sciences. It is optimized for challenging XAS measurements on dilute or radioactive samples and interfaces. To support these experiments, BL11-2 is equipped with collimating and focusing optics, a "double double" Si(220) LN2-cooled monochromator, and a 100-pixel monolithic solid state Ge detector array.

After many years of service, the scattering capability is planned to be removed from bamline 7-2 after the first cycle of 2019 (March 2020). All of the wonderful capabilities our users have appreciated will be available at the new undulator scattering beamline BL 17-2 later in 2020.

Beam line 6-2c is a wiggler end-station dedicated to hard x-ray transmission x-ray microscopy. The BL6-2c back hutch houses a Transmission X-ray Microscope with 2D and 3D full field imaging and spectroscopic capabilities, with an instrument resolution down to 30 nm. It has specific capabilities for in-situ tomographic studies of catalytic processes including x-ray absorption spectroscopy.

Beam line 6-2b is a wiggler end-station dedicated to High Resolution Hard X-ray Spectroscopy. The end station combines three multicrystal Johann spectrometers that enable X-ray Emission Spectroscopy (XES), Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering (RIXS), High-Energy Resolution Fluorescence Detected X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (HERFD-XAS) and X-ray Raman Spectroscopy (XRS) techniques.

Beam line 6-2a is a wiggler end-station that can be configured for tender x-ray x-ray emission spectroscopy (instrumentation in commissioning use).

Beam line 2-3 is a bending magnet side station dedicated to x-ray imaging and micro x-ray absorption spectroscopy (edge, EXAFS) as well as micro diffraction of biological, material, and geological samples. A set of SIGRAY axially symmetric mirror systems are used to achieve a microfocus with an option of a beam size of ~ 3 x 3 microns, or sub-micron spots. The energy range of the beam line optics covers 4.9-23 keV, with detection of fluorescent x-rays as low as Si. BL2-3 is equipped with a Vortex silicon drift detector and ionization chambers.

Beam line 2-1 is a dedicated thin film/powder diffraction and reflectivity station. It is equipped with a Huber 2-circle goniometer and a high-resolution crystal-analyzer detector. There are several different types of sample stages to cater to a broad user-base including a motorized xyz stage, a capillary spinner, a "wet" liquid sample stage, and an Anton-Paar furnace (25-900 ºC). Data acquisition is performed using SPEC, with SPECPlot GUI interface (in-house diffractometer control, peak fitting and plotting software).