BL-15A2: High-brilliance Small-Angle X-ray Scattering beamline
New beamline, BL-15A, was completed at the BL-15 section of the PF-ring in 2014. This new beamline has a short gap undulator which produces high brilliance X-rays ranging from 2.1 keV to 15 keV. The beamline is dedicated to both activities, XAFS/XRF/XRD studies using semi-micro focus beams (A1 station) and SAXS experiments using collimated softer and hard X-rays (A2 station). The combination of XAFS/XRF and SAXS experiments gives wide structural information from fine atomic structure to low and medium resolution. However, the XAFS/XRF and SAXS activities require highly focused and collimated beams, respectively. In order to achieve the both requirements, we newly developed a double surface bimorph mirror for the back-end horizontal beamline optics. The mirror surface can be selected by driving the mirror stage. At the A2 station, the collimated beams are used for structural studies of functional membranes, large hierarchical structure analysis of soft matter and solution structure determination of biological system. In particular, grazing incidence SAXS (GI-SAXS) using vertically small-size low energy X-rays ranging between 2.1-3.0 keV will help to control the depth of the membrane structure analysis and reduce the roughness defects of an imperfect membrane. For such wide scientific targets, two kinds of SAXS stages are installed in tandem in the A2 station. The upstream stage is used for low energy SAXS experiments in vacuum or helium environment and the downstream one is a conventional SAXS/WAXS stage for various structural researches. The SAXS detector is a vacuum compatible Pilatus3 2M which is used for conventional SAXS experiments and is directly connected to the upstream SAXS stage in order to detect the lower energy x-ray photons. The Pilatus3 300KW is also equipped for wider-angle diffraction measurements. The construction was completed in the summer shutdown of 2013 and the first beams were delivered on Oct 17, 2013. The beamline optics tuning was followed by the A1 and A2 commissioning studies. We opened both stations to users in Nov, 2014.
SCHEMATIC VIEW OF THE BEAMLINE
Area of Research
SAXS/WAXS experiments and Low energy GISAXS
Light Source
Short Gap Undulator
Periodic length : 17.6 mm
Periodic Number : 27
Maximum K value : 1.61
Optics
Horizontal Collimation Mirror 15.0m Rhodium coated silicon single crystal (Flat assymetric bent, 800 mm (L) x 60 mm (W) x 40 mm (T) ) with 4.0 mrad glancing angle.
Mono-chromator 21.0m Numerical link type Si(111) double crystal monochromator, liquid nitrogen cooling
Vertical Focusing Mirror 25.0m Rhodium coated silicon single crystal (Flat bent, 800 mm (L) x 60 mm (W) x 50 mm (T) ) with 4.0 mrad glancing angle.
Horizontal Focusing Mirror 1 26.5m Rhodium coated silicon bimorph (Parabola shape, 800 mm (L) x 60 mm (W) ) with 4.0 mrad glancing angle.
Double Mirror 26.5m Two Nickel coated silicon single crystal (Flat shape, 800 mm (L) x 60 mm (W) ) with 4.0 mrad glancing angle.
Slit 31m Secondary source
Horizontal Focusing Mirror 2 32.5m Rhodium coated silicon bimorph (Ellipse shape, 200 mm (L) x 45 mm (W) ) with 4.0 mrad glancing angle.
Focal point 32.8m
36.75m
42.75m		 A1: XAFS/XRF/XRD
A2: SAXS using softer X-rays
A2: SAXS using hard X-rays
Detectors
SAXS Detector : Vacuum-compatible PILATUS3 2M
Detector size : W253.7 x H288.8 mm
No. of pixels : W1475 x H1679
Max. frame rate : 250 Hz
Readout time : 0.95 msec

WAXS Detector : PILATUS3 300KW
Detector size : W253.7 x H33.5 mm
No. of pixels : W1475 x H195
Max. frame rate : 500 Hz
Readout time : 0.95 msec
Beam Performance
Energy range : 2.1 - 15 keV
Energy resolution : 2 x 10-4
Beam Flux : >1011 phs/s
Beam size : 0.288(H)x0.035(V) mm (GISAXS stage),
0.663(H)x0.040(V) mm (SAXS/WAXS stage)
Beam divergence : 0.06(H) x 0.11(V) mrad (Calc)
Other Devices
Pulse Generator, Chiller for sample temperature, Incubator (3 - 45degree), Microcentrifuge (1,5&0.5ml, -20 - 40degree), Microspectrophotometer (>2uL), Pipetman (2, 20, 200, 1000uL), General GISAXS stage, HPLC system for SEC-SAXS
Reference
[Hard X-ray Setting]
Takagi, H., Igarashi, N., Nagatani, Y., Ohta, H., Mori, T., Kosuge, T. and Shimizu, N., AIP Conf. Proc. 2054, 060038 (2019).
doi: 10.1063/1.5084669

[Tender X-ray Setting]
Takagi, H., Igarashi, N., Mori, T., Saijo, S., Nagatani, Y., Ohta, H., Yamamoto, K. and Shimizu, N., J. Appl. Phys. 120, 142119 (2016).
doi: 10.1063/1.4961977

[Old]
Igarashi, N.,Shimizu, N., Koyama, A., Mori, T., Ohta, H., Niwa, Y., Nitani, H., Abe, H., Nomura, M., Shioya, T., Tsuchiya K. and Ito, K., J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. 425, 072016 (2013).
doi: 10.1088/1742-6596/425/7/072016
Contact Persons
Noriyuki IGARASHI (BL-15A Beamline)
Phone : +81-298-64-5641
Fax : +81-298-64-2801
e-mail : noriyuki.igarashi [at] kek.jp
Nobutaka SHIMIZU (A2 station)
Phone : +81-298-64-5595
Fax : +81-298-64-2801
e-mail : nobutaka.shimizu [at] kek.jp
Hideaki TAKAGI (A2 station)
Phone : +81-298-64-6105
Fax : +81-298-64-2801
e-mail : takagih [at] post.kek.jp
Other details information
SAXS beamlines at PF (Japanese)
Measurable Q-range
PF-XAFS homepage (Japaese)
Last modified: 2019-1-24