Extending the New Tender Energy X-Ray Fluorescence Microspectroscopy User Facility to Nanoscale Spatial Resolution

THE TES BEAMLINE AT THE NATIONAL SYNCHROTRON LIGHT SOURCE II BNL WHICH WAS PARTLY FUNDED BY THE LARS PROGRAM (GRANT #NNX13AD12G TO PAUL NORTHRUP STONY BROOK UNIVERSITY AND GEORGE FLYNN SUNY PLATTSBURGH) HAS BEEN COMMISSIONED AND IS NOW OPERATIONAL AS A USER FACILITY. IT PROVIDES WORLD-UNIQUE X-RAY FLUORESCENCE (XRF) MICROPROBE AND MICROBEAM XAFS CAPABILITIES AT 2 TO 6 KEV COVERING THE K ABSORPTION EDGES OF KEY LIGHTER ELEMENTS P S AND K AT SPATIAL RESOLUTION DOWN TO 1-2 UM. TES HAS PROVIDED INITIAL DATA ON P AND S DISTRIBUTION AND SPECIATION IN INDIVIDUAL GRAINS WITHIN CLUSTER INTERPLANETARY DUST PARTICLES (IDPS). WE OBSERVE DIFFERENCES IN P SPECIATION BETWEEN GRAINS AS WELL AS DIFFERENT ASSOCIATIONS WITH OTHER ELEMENTS EG. S AND MG. OUR OBSERVATIONS OF IDP STRUCTURE INDICATES THAT THE SIZE OF MOST COMPONENTS ARE ON THE ORDER OF THE SMALLEST PROBE BEAM AT TES OR EVEN SMALLER. THIS DEMONSTRATES A CLEAR NEED FOR HIGHER SPATIAL RESOLUTION TO FULLY UNDERSTAND THE SMALL-SCALE COMPONENTS. WE PROPOSE TO ADD A SECOND SAMPLE STATION TO THE TES BEAMLINE UTILIZING ZONE PLATE (ZP) OPTICS SIMILAR TO A STXM INSTRUMENT BUT OPERATING IN THE 1.5-6 KEV ENERGY RANGE (AL THROUGH TI) AND INCLUDING XRF DETECTION IN ADDITION TO TRANSMISSION. IT WOULD PROVIDE SPATIAL RESOLUTION BETTER THAN 100 NM AND A 100X INCREASE IN FLUX DENSITY COMPARED TO THE CURRENT TES ENDSTATION ENABLING CHARACTERIZATION OF SMALLER SAMPLES AND COMPONENTS WITHIN SAMPLES. THE TWO ENDSTATIONS WOULD BE INDEPENDENT AND BEAM COULD SERVE EITHER ONE AT ANY GIVEN TIME WITH EASY SWITCHING BETWEEN THE TWO. THE NEW ENDSTATION WOULD UTILIZE THE CURRENT MICROFOCUS AS THE VIRTUAL SOURCE FOR THE ZP OPTICS TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THE ABILITY TO INDEPENDENTLY TUNE HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL BEAM DIMENSIONS AND DIVERGENCES. THE SCOPE OF THE PROPOSAL WOULD INCLUDE THE SAMPLE CHAMBER (HELIUM ATMOSPHERE) ZP OPTICS AND POSITIONING STAGES SAMPLE POSITIONING STAGES DETECTORS AND CONTROLS. IT WOULD CAPITALIZE ON THE EXPERTISE DEVELOPED DURING THE CONSTRUCTION AND COMMISSIONING OF TES AS WELL AS THE NANOPOSITIONING TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO THE NSLS-II HARD X-RAY NANOPROBE BEAMLINE. THE PROJECT WOULD BE MANAGED WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE EXISTING PARTNER USER STRUCTURE AT TES WHICH PROVIDES DEDICATED BEAMTIME FOR NASA RESEARCHERS AS WELL AS OPEN ACCESS THROUGH THE NSLS-II GENERAL USER PROGRAM. WITH CONCURRENCE OF THE PROGRAM MANAGER WE WOULD ALSO PROPOSE TO INCLUDE EFFORT TO DEVELOP THE DESIGN COST AND SCHEDULE ESTIMATES FOR A NEW NSLS-II BEAMLINE AND TO DEVELOP THE BEAMLINE DEVELOPMENT PROPOSAL FOR NSLS-II. FUNDING FOR CONSTRUCTION WOULD BE THE SUBJECT OF FUTURE PROPOSAL. THIS NEW BEAMLINE WOULD INCLUDE BOTH THE 1-6 KEV ENERGY RANGE AND THE SOFTER ENERGY RANGE TO ACCESS C O AND N EDGES AS A CLASSIC STXM. THE ENDSTATION DEVELOPED AND IMPLEMENTED AT TES WOULD ULTIMATELY BE MOVED TO THE NEW BEAMLINE RESULTING IN PARALLEL MICRO- AND NANO-PROBES OPTIMIZED FOR CHARACTERIZATION OF RETURN-ISSION SAMPLES. UNDERSTANDING THE DISTRIBUTION AND SPECIATION OF P IS PARTICULARLY IMPORTANT BECAUSE OF ITS ROLE IN BIOLOGY AND THE ORIGIN OF LIFE. THE MOST COMMON ELEMENTS IN A TYPICAL CELL ARE H O N P AND S. OF THESE P IS THE LEAST ABUNDANT BUT IT IS A CRITICAL STRUCTURAL ELEMENT IN DNA AND RNA. THIS GIVES RISE TO THE PHOSPHOROUS PROBLEM IN THE ORIGIN OF LIFE (PASEK 2006). THE PHOSPHOROUS PROBLEM DETERMINING HOW P WAS INCORPORATED INTO THE FIRST BIOMOLECULES REMAINS UNANSWERED. THE AVAILABILITY OF DISSOLVED P IN WATER ON THE EARTH IS LOW. ORTHOPHOSPHATE MINERALS SUCH AS APATITE WHITELOCKITE AND MONETITE ARE THE MAJOR CARRIERS OF PHOSPHATE ON EARTH BUT THESE ARE POORLY SOLUBLE IN WATER. THIS PROMPTED THE SUGGESTION THAT EXOGENOUS DELIVERY OF REACTIVE P BY IDPS OR METEORITES COULD HAVE BEEN IMPORTANT TO THE ORIGIN OF LIFE (E.G. PASEK 2006 PHOSPHORUS AND SULFUR COSMOCHEMISTRY: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE ORIGIN OF LIFE PHD THESIS UNIVERSITY OF AZ).