OVERVIEW
The XPD beamline is an experimental station dedicated to Powder X-ray Diffraction analysis and operates from 6 to 12 keV. However, the energy is set at 8keV (for maximum flux) and it is only changed to perform anomalous scattering experiments or to eliminate the effect of fluorescence for samples containing specific elements, such as Fe, Cu and Co. The beamline focuses on the structural studies of crystalline and nanocrystalline materials and it is able to perform both high resolution and faster in-situ experiments under non-ambient conditions.
XPD’s source is a 1.67T bending magnet, with a Huber 4+2 circle diffractomete, working in Bragg-Brentano geometry (theta-2theta) providing high quality powder diffraction data. Powder X-ray diffraction techniques largely benefit from the high-brilliance of synchrotron light sources in terms of photon flux, angular resolution, higher resolution, energy tunability as well as in situ studies in combination with fast detectors.
XPD is a beamline for studying the structure of all forms of polycrystalline materials, especially in a powder form. It offers the acquisition of powder patterns in high resolution mode, allowing the investigation of strain, lattice defects, and micro-structure of materials at ambient and cryogenic temperatures. In addition, powder diffraction using a synchrotron radiation X-rays source and fast detectors has become an essential technique for studying the change in crystalline or nanosized materials as a function of time under a variety of experimental conditions such as, temperatures ans gas. XPD allows kinetic experiments using a furnace installed onto the diffractometer, which allows gases to interact with the samples to simulate various reaction conditions or environments. A Mythen 1k linear detector can be used for fast data acquisition during in situ experiments. The beamline energy can be changed to perform anomalous scattering experiments, in which the contrast between scattering factors of different elements can be conveniently tuned. Energy tunability also eliminates the effects of fluorescence.