ABSTRACT
The ability to perform X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) in the 300-1500 eV energy range allows measurements to be made on transition metal compounds. This paper describes a detector and the technique used to perform fluorescent measurements on such materials. A variety of test sample results are shown to illustrate the low energy and energy-resolving capabilities of the detector (based on gas microstrip technology). Two possible applications are also demonstrated. The first shows how the detector can be used to gather X-ray absorption spectra for the L edges of transition metals and K edges of light elements (C, O and N). The other shows how the magnetic immunity of the detector can be exploited to study the magnetic properties of materials.
Subject(s)
Absorptiometry, Photon/instrumentation , Metals/chemistry , Spectrometry, X-Ray Emission/instrumentation , Transducers , Transition Elements/chemistry , Absorptiometry, Photon/methods , Equipment Design , Equipment Failure Analysis , Feasibility Studies , Gases/chemistry , Miniaturization , Photons , Reproducibility of Results , Sensitivity and Specificity , Spectrometry, X-Ray Emission/methodsABSTRACT
Computing provision is of major concern to synchrotron radiation researchers. An overview is presented of the computing facilities for synchrotron radiation work at the Synchrotron Radiation Source, Daresbury Laboratory. Data acquisition, reduction and analysis are seen as an integrated activity essential for full utilization of beam time. We discuss the evolution of data-acquisition systems from stand-alone systems of limited computing power, to a unified project computing village using state-of-the-art equipment for combined-technique, high-data-rate experiments. A brief account of software packages for data reduction and analysis is also given.
