Hard X-ray imaging allow detailed information to be gathered from below the surface of a material through either full-field imaging, where the whole sample is illuminated, or through scanning, where the beam is focused to a small spot which is scanned across the sample. The high intensity and energy of synchrotron X-rays makes it possible to image a much larger range of materials and sample thicknesses than conventional X-ray sources, and the brilliance of the synchrotron source produces very high resolution images. An additional technique called X-ray computed tomography can create three dimensional reconstructions of the internal sample volume. This makes it possible to view any cross-section of the virtual image at any angle.
The main microscopy and imaging techniques employed at Diamond are:
The following Diamond beamlines are suitable for Microscopy and Imaging experiments:
| I06 - Nanoscience Operational | A microfocus soft-X-ray beamline for X-ray photoelectron microscopy. It is used to study nanostructures significant for sensors, catalysts and magnetic materials and nanoscale devices. |
| I12 - JEEP Operational | A multi-purpose beamline for researchers and practitioners from engineering and materials science, imaging, process engineering and earth sciences. |
| I13 - X-ray microscopic imaging with branchline for coherence Operational | A beamline for studying the structure of micro-and nano-objects. The information is either acquired in direct space or by inverting (diffraction) data recorded in reciprocal space. Dynamical studies are performed on different time- and length- scales with X-ray Photon Correlation Spectroscopy (XPCS) and pinhole-based Ultra-Small Angle Scattering (USAXS). |
| B16 - Test beamline Operational | A beamline for testing new developments in optics and detector technology and for trialling new experimental techniques. |
| I18 - Microfocus Spectroscopy Operational | A beamline providing micron size x-ray beams combined with fine sample control for 2D compositional (fluorescence detection) studies of complex inhomogeneous materials under realistic conditions. |
| B22 - IR Spectromicroscopy Operational | This beamline provides a powerful and versatile method of determining chemical structure with unprecedented sensitivity and spatial resolution. |
Diamond Light Source is the UK's national synchrotron science facility, located at the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus in Oxfordshire.
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