Welcome to Spectroscopy

Following the restructuring of the Diamond Science Division, the Diamond Spectroscopy Group was built around four beamlines; the Microfocus Spectroscopy beamline (I18) the Core X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (XAS) beamline (B18) and the two independently operating branches of the Versatile X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy beamline, I20-scanning and I20-EDE.  The EDE branch of I20 is now closed, the flagship Diamond II beamline SWIFT will in future offer milliseconds resolution for XAS. These four beamlines are complementary in many aspects, such as the energy range they cover, the size of the focussed beam spot delivered to the sample, and the time resolution they are able to reach. Nevertheless, each beamline has its unique characteristics and they are optimised for performing different types of experimental studies. Over the last year more than 1,350 peer-reviewed experimental shifts were delivered using the Spectroscopy Group beamlines, covering many different scientific disciplines, from chemistry and catalysis to environmental and life sciences, materials science, hard condensed matter and cultural heritage. As well as supporting a very vibrant user programme, many technical developments have also been implemented on the beamlines during the last year. Some of the developments have improved data quality and collection times, while others have added new capabilities to the beamlines.

 

I18 Microfocus Spectroscopy

µX-ray absorption spectroscopy, µX-ray fluorescence imaging and µdiffraction using high-brightness focused X-ray beam. Other techniques available include X-ray Excited Optical Luminescence (XEOL), X-ray Fluorescence Tomography, Fluorescence ReflEXAFS, Differential Phase Contrast Imaging.

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Beamsize: 2 µm x 2.5 µm
Energy: 2.05 - 20.5 keV

B18 Core XAS

B18 is a general purpose EXAFS beamline. The Core-EXAFS is used for an extensive range of studies and applications, including local structure and electronic state of active components, and the study of materials including fluids, crystalline and non-crystalline (amorphous phases & colloids) solids, surfaces and biomaterials.

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Beamsize: 200 µm x 250 µm
Energy: 2.05 - 35 keV

I20 LOLA: Versatile X-ray Spectroscopy

I20 now covers two very distinctive modes of operation: X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (XAS) on challenging samples, X-ray Emission Spectroscopy (XES). The beamline is equipped with a wiggler for the scanning branchline (I20-scanning). The Energy Dispersive branch has been closed.

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Beamsize: I20-Scanning: 400 µm x 300 µm
Energy: I20-Scanning: design range of 4 - 34 keV; currently operating between 4.5 -20 keV

 

Beamline B18 I18 I20
Techniques      
Energy range (keV)  5.5 - 19.5  2.05 - 20.5

I20-scanning:
4-34

Flux (ph/s) at sample (300 mA)    2 x 1012

I20-scanning: >5x1012 (Si(111) at 10 keV)

 

Beam size at sample  200 µm (V) x 250 µm (H)  2 µm (V) x 2 µm (H)

I20-scanning:
300 µm (V) x 400 µm (H)

 

Time resolution  10s of seconds    
Specimen environments   LN2/ LHe Cryostat, He chamber, LN2 cryostream, Furnaces to 1400 C LN2 and He pulse tube cryostats, LN2 cryostream, gas capillary cell, furnace reactor

 

X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy

X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) is a technique for determining the local electronic and geometric structure of matter. XAS includes techniques such as XANES and EXAFS, among others.

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X-ray Fluorescence

X-ray fluorescence (XRF) is the emission of secondary X-rays from matter, which is widely used for analyzing the elemental distribution or spectroscopy with highest chemical sensitivity.

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Imaging

Organic or inorganic heterogeneous matter attenuates and scatters X-rays in different manner, which is used to characterize the morphology of the specimen using a variety of  contrast techniques.

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I18

X-ray Diffraction

X-ray diffraction makes use of scattered X-ray that constructively interfere and give a unique fingerprint of the specimen and its structure and phases.

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Energy Dispersive EXAFS (EDE)

In the dispersive configuration the whole XAS spectrum is collected simultaneously which makes the technique especially useful for time resolved studies.

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I20

Science Group Leader

Sofia Diaz-Moreno

Email: sofia.diaz-moreno@diamond.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0) 1235 778158

New XAS BAG now available!

A Block Allocation Group (BAG) has been approved for urgent XAS measurements on energy materials on beamline B18. The measurements will be standard, room temperature and ex situ, and for a reasonable number of samples. Find out more...

Latest Group Publications

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