The TES beamline (8-BM) at NSLS-II: Tender-energy spatially resolved X-ray absorption spectroscopy and X-ray fluorescence imaging

The tender-energy X-ray spectroscopy (TES) beamline at the National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II) is now operational for general users. Its scientific mission includes static and in situ X-ray fluorescence imaging and spatially resolved X-ray absorption spectroscopy for characterization of complex heterogeneous, structured and dynamic natural or engineered materials and systems. TES is optimized for the tender-energy range, offering routine operations from 2.0 to 5.5keV, with capabilities to reach down to 1.2 or up to 8keV with configuration change. TES is designed as an extended X-ray absorption fine-structure microprobe (EXAFS microprobe) for applications of micrometre-scale EXAFS spectroscopy to heterogeneous samples. Beam size is user-tunable from ∼2 to 25μm. Energy may be scanned on-the-fly or in traditional step scanning. Importantly, the position of the microbeam at the sample location does not move significantly during energy scanning or when changing energy across the entire routine energy range. This enables full EXAFS of a particle or domain the same size as the probe beam, and measurement of the same spot at different energies. In addition, there is no measureable drift in energy calibration (repeatability) scan-to-scan and over 24h. This is critical where simultaneous calibration measurements are generally not feasible, and for speciation mapping where precise and stable control of incident energy is essential. The sample environment is helium atmosphere at room pressure with infrastructure for in situ electrochemistry and catalysis in small sample cells or microreactors. As the first bend-magnet beamline at NSLS-II, noteworthy commissioning aspects are described. Example measurements are presented to illustrate its capabilities.