Diamond Annual Review 2023/24

64 D I A M O N D L I G H T S O U R C E A N N U A L R E V I E W 2 0 2 3 / 2 4 X-ray technologies at Diamond I t is self-evident that for our instruments to produce world-leading science, we need to have world-class optics, detectors and computing technologies at our fingertips; technological advances never stop but are continually evolving. This section describes the support and advances in the Optics and Metrology Group, Detector Group and Scientific Software Controls and Computation department at Diamond Light Source. Advances which are supporting and enhancing our capabilities today are described, but also developments that will keep us competitive over the next few years. These groups are very active in calculations and specifications for beamlines and instruments being put forward and planned for Diamond-II, an integrated upgrade of the synchrotron, beamlines and computational facilities. These advances continue to keep us competitive worldwide, and Diamond is proud to be on the forefront of many of these technologies. Optics and Metrology Group The Optics and Metrology group (photographed below) has been actively involved in progressing the beamline designs for Diamond- II, both for the new flagship beamlines and the upgrade of several existing beamlines. To make room for the Diamond-II flagship beamline CSXID at I17, the Optical Metrology Lab (OML) was relocated from Zone 12 to Zone 4, and the control cabin for the versatile optics test beamline B16 also had to be relocated. The OML is now operating and B16 has returned to user operation in September 2024. The Optics and Metrology group has also built new optics manufacturing facilities. The ion beam figuring facility, which was developed in- house, is now fully operational, and a new multilayer fabrication facility has been established, which is the first facility of its kind in the UK. The physical metrology laboratory (PML) continued to be used for high-precision tests of prototype motion stages in monochromators and other optical components. The Optics and Metrology group has kept a steady pace of research and development projects to benefit Diamond beamlines. Some of these are highlighted in this report. Optics for Diamond-II beamlines The Optics and Metrology group has worked closely with Diamond’s beamline teams to achieve the best possible performance for Diamond-II. They cover the flagship beamlines CSXID, SWIFT and K04, as well as the currently existing beamlines, whose sources and optical components need to be upgraded. The group has carried out simulations of the power load on critical components, particularly white-beam mirrors and monochromators. In collaboration with Diamond’s engineers, they are evaluating the resulting thermal deformations to ensure that these components will be fit for purpose. They are designing beamline layouts by running ray traces and wavefront propagation simulations. The large workloads are being handled efficiently by bundling similar optics on different beamlines into one project, for example the multilayer monochromators on K16, K21 and VMXi. Efficiency has also been gained by producing common formats for FEA simulations and a new X-ray technologies Figure 1: Interior of the new OML, showing the improved isolating enclosures and enhanced damping platforms for the sensitive metrology instruments.