The soft X-ray monochromator at the SASE3 beamline of the European XFEL: from design to operation

Gerasimova, Natalia; Civita, Daniele La; Samoylova, Liubov; Vannoni, Maurizio; Villanueva, R.; Hickin, David; Carley, Robert; Gort, Rafael; Kuiken, Benjamin E. Van; Miedema, Piter S.; Guyarder, L. Le; Mercadier, Laurent; Mercurio, Giuseppe; Schlappa, Justine; M., Teichman,; Yaroslavtsev, Alexander; Sinn, H.; Scherz, Andreas

doi:10.1107/s1600577522007627

Cited by 23 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 10 publications

(9 reference statements)

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“…The spectrometer [45] was placed 2.3 m downstream of the interaction point and consisted of an entrance slit of 40 µm and a grating with 1200 lines/mm and 5 m radius of curvature used in Rowland geometry, coupled to a CCD camera (Andor, model Newton). Energy calibration was performed using the SASE 3 monochromator [46].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transient Absorption of Warm Dense Matter Created by an X-Ray Free-Electron Laser

Mercadier

Benediktovitch

Krušič

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Warm dense matter (WDM) is a ubiquitous state of matter encountered in various high energy density environments, at the frontier between a plasma and a condensed phase. It is key to astrophysics, planetary science and inertial confinement fusion research, but its electronic and ionic structure and dynamics remain poorly understood. Here, an intense and ultrafast X-ray free electron laser (XFEL) pulse is used to simultaneously create and characterize warm dense copper via L-edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy. The rich electron dynamics occurring within the 15-femtosecond pulse duration are revealed over a large irradiation intensity range. Below 1015 W cm-2, an absorption peak below the L-edge appears, originating from the depletion of the 3d band, and shows a distinct energy redshift with increasing intensity. This shift is a possible signature of ionization potential depression and electronic bond hardening. At higher intensities, massive ionization and collisions lead to the transition from reverse saturable absorption (opening absorption channels) to saturable absorption (material bleaching) of the XFEL pulse, an effect that holds promise for X-ray pulse shaping. The presented method is applicable to a wide range of materials and constitutes a robust benchmark for non-equilibrium models of electron dynamics in WDM.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transient Absorption of Warm Dense Matter Created by an X-Ray Free-Electron Laser

Mercadier

Benediktovitch

Krušič

et al. 2023

Preprint

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“…To enhance beam transfer, manipulation, and detection, innovative, low-loss, and compact optical devices such as beam-splitting off-axis zone plates [64], monochromators [65], and microchannel plate (MCP) devices can be introduced in soft X-ray beamlines. For example, using MCP devices, X-ray pulses can be delivered to the sample while preserving the source brilliance.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Progress and Perspectives of Spectroscopic Studies at Carbon K-edge Using Novel Soft X-ray Pulsed Sources

Ebrahimpour¹,

Coreno²,

Giannessi³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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The development of novel coherent and brilliant sources, such as soft X-ray Free Electron Laser (FEL) and High Harmonic Generation (HHG) enables new ultrafast analysis of the electronic and structural dynamics of a wide variety of materials. Soft X-ray FEL delivers high brilliance beams with short pulse duration, high spatial coherence and photon energy tunability. In com-parison with FELs, HHG X-ray sources are characterized by a wide spectral bandwidth and few to sub-femtosecond pulses. The approach will lead to time-resolved reconstruction of molecular dynamics, shedding light on different photochemical pathways. The high peak brilliance of soft X-ray FELs facilitates investigations in nonlinear regime, while the broader spectral bandwidth of the HHG sources may provide the simultaneous probing of multiple components. Significant technical breakthroughs in these novel sources are under way to improve brilliance, pulse dura-tion, and to control spectral bandwidth, spot size, and energy resolution. Therefore, in the next few years, the new generation of soft X-ray sources combined with novel experimental tech-niques, new detectors, and computing capabilities will allow the study of several extremely-fast dynamics, such as vibronic dynamics. In the present review, we shortly discuss recent devel-opments in experiments, performed with soft X-ray FELs and HHG sources, operating near car-bon K-absorption edge, being a key atomic component in biosystems and soft materials. Differ-ent spectroscopy methods such as time-resolved pump-probe techniques, nonlinear spectrosco-pies and photoelectron spectroscopy studies have been addressed in an attempt of a better un-derstanding of fundamental physico-chemical processes

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“…M4 is a plane mirror which can be replaced by a variable line spacing (VLS) grating if a monochromatic beam is required by the beam users; the spectral band is selected in this case by a vertical slit located at the focal position of M3. The grating and the slit constitute the SASE3 soft X-ray monochromator (Gerasimova et al, 2022). In addition, the focusing provided by M3 narrows the beam also vertically, such that, similarly to the horizontal direction, the beam size at the position of VFM is made compatible with the projected clear aperture of the mirror itself (see Fig.…”

Section: Optical Layout Of the Beamlinementioning

confidence: 99%

The beam transport system for the Small Quantum Systems instrument at the European XFEL: optical layout and first commissioning results

Mazza¹,

Baumann²,

Boll³

et al. 2023

J Synchrotron Radiat

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The Small Quantum Systems instrument is one of the six operating instruments of the European XFEL, dedicated to the atomic, molecular and cluster physics communities. The instrument started its user operation at the end of 2018 after a commissioning phase. The design and characterization of the beam transport system are described here. The X-ray optical components of the beamline are detailed, and the beamline performances, transmission and focusing capabilities are reported. It is shown that the X-ray beam can be effectively focused as predicted by ray-tracing simulations. The impact of non-ideal X-ray source conditions on the focusing performances is discussed.

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The soft X-ray monochromator at the SASE3 beamline of the European XFEL: from design to operation

Cited by 23 publications

References 10 publications

Transient Absorption of Warm Dense Matter Created by an X-Ray Free-Electron Laser

Transient Absorption of Warm Dense Matter Created by an X-Ray Free-Electron Laser

Progress and Perspectives of Spectroscopic Studies at Carbon K-edge Using Novel Soft X-ray Pulsed Sources

The beam transport system for the Small Quantum Systems instrument at the European XFEL: optical layout and first commissioning results

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