Operations at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF)

We currently use beamline ID31 at the ESRF for running high-throughput powder diffraction and scattering measurements. The ESRF is the highest brilliance high energy synchrotron in the world. In particular, beamline is ideal for our measurements due to providing high flux at our high working X-ray energy of 75 keV, which provides low absorption, less beam damage, and a wide range of reciprocal space. The beam can be finely tuned to achieve optimal experimental resolution.

Area detector

Measurments are performed using a Pilatus3 X CdTe 2M large area 2D detector for high detection efficiency and no noise from dark current. The detector is placed at three different positions for PDF, XRD, and SAXS measurements respectively.

Flight tube

For SAXS measurements, the detector is placed approximately 7 m away from the sample to provide good resolution over the small-angle region. A flight tube is situated between the sample and detector to minimize air scattering and reduce overall background.

Robotic sample changer

At ID31, we operate a one-of-a-kind high-throughput robitic sample cycling device that can measure thousands of samples in a single experimental shift in any of XRD, PDF, and SAXS modalities. The setup provides fluidisation of powders through sample vibration and active translation during the measurement, and fast acquisitions within a few seconds.

Sample preparation

We use a state-of-the-art sample preparation facilities at the ESRF Chemistry Laboratory for all sample handling tasks.

Operations at the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY)

We are currently running the MEDESES project (see here), a collaboration between Momentum Transfer, DESY, and the ESRF to setup a high-throughput X-ray diffraction and scattering setup at DESY. In the process, we are working to improve the setup, measurement protocols, and standardize the operating procedures for consistency between both large-scale facilities.