7 0 H I G H L I G H T S 2 0 2 2 I

S C I E N T I F I C H I G H L I G H T S

X - R A Y N A N O P R O B E

With three beamlines (ID01, ID16A and ID16B) fully optimised for the Extremely Brilliant Source (EBS), ID21 undergoing refurbishment and ID13, the first microfocus beamline at the ESRF, planned for further optimisation, the X-ray Nanoprobe group serves the user community with a versatile nanoprobe portfolio. Highest resolution in space is combined with multimodal probing and, in some cases, combined with complex sample environments. The much-increased useful flux also allows for higher data rates, likely to increase even further over the coming years with improvements on the detector side. This puts the data pipelines more and more in the focus of interest, setting the challenges and the potential for the years ahead.

With the much-increased coherent flux from the EBS, ID01 is seeing increased interest from the user community for coherence techniques. The advent of a GaAs Maxipix detector on the beamline now routinely allows the exploitation of this technique at higher energy, notably in the sweet spots around 20 and 33 keV provided by the 3rd and 5th harmonic of the source. This is not only of interest for the use of sample environments but also reduces the problem of radiation damage. Techniques less sensitive to damage, such as scanning diffraction and full-field diffraction microscopy, still mostly exploit the regime of peak brilliance around 10 keV. The beamline review in 2022 had a very positive outcome, with enthusiastic support from the reviewers, underlining the unique flexibility ID01 offers with its three diffraction- imaging techniques and the accommodation of sample environments.

In 2022, constraints related to the pandemic were overcome and ID13 resumed regular operation with full user presence at the beamline, exploiting the properties of the EBS. In particular, the activities regarding time-resolved/in-situ experiments, such as fast chip nanocalorimetry, operando cycling of battery cells combined with scanning microdiffraction (battery hub collaboration, MA-4929, Lyonnard et al.), and in-situ nanobeam wedge indentation (LTP MI-1533, Keckes et al.) were enforced. The latter project was carried out with a nanobeam-compatible mechanical testing device co- developed with this user group with the aim of targeting a broad user community. It is fully integrated in the BLISS instrument control system. Furthermore, the availability of a GaAs sensor-based Maxipix detector at the beamline helps to expand the photon energy range to up to 24 keV, enabling fast/time-resolved scanning experiments on sample systems requiring higher penetrating power.