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The X-ray free-electron laser of the Pohang Accelerator Laboratory (PAL-XFEL) was opened to users in 2017. Since then, significant progress has been made in PAL-XFEL operation and beamline experiments. This includes increasing the FEL pulse energy, increasing the FEL photon energy, generating self-seeding FEL, and trials of two-color operation. In the beamline, new instruments or endstations have been added or are being prepared. Overall, beamline operation has been stabilized since its initiation, which has enabled excellent scientific results through efficient user experiments. In this paper, we describe details of the recent progress of the PAL-XFEL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the ultrafast dynamics of molecules is of fundamental importance. Time‐resolved X‐ray absorption spectroscopy (TR‐XAS) is a powerful spectroscopic technique for unveiling the time‐dependent structural and electronic information of molecules that has been widely applied in various fields. Herein, the design and technical achievement of a newly developed experimental apparatus for TR‐XAS measurements in the tender X‐ray range with X‐ray free‐electron lasers (XFELs) at the Pohang Accelerator Laboratory XFEL (PAL‐XFEL) are described. Femtosecond TR‐XAS measurements were conducted at the Ru L3‐edge of well known photosensitizer tris(bipyridine)ruthenium(II) chloride ([Ru(bpy)3]2+) in water. The results indicate ultrafast photoinduced electron transfer from the Ru center to the ligand, which demonstrates that the newly designed setup is applicable for monitoring ultrafast reactions in the femtosecond domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Donor–acceptor (D–A) type semiconducting polymers have shown great potential for the application of deformable and stretchable electronics in recent decades. However, due to their heterogeneous structure with rigid backbones and long solubilizing side chains, the fundamental understanding of their molecular picture upon mechanical deformation still lacks investigation. Here, the molecular orientation of diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP)‐based D–A polymer thin films is probed under tensile deformation via both experimental measurements and molecular modeling. The detailed morphological analysis demonstrates highly aligned polymer crystallites upon deformation, while the degree of backbone alignment is limited within the crystalline domain. Besides, the aromatic ring on polymer backbones rotates parallel to the strain direction despite the relatively low overall chain anisotropy. The effect of side‐chain length on the DPP chain alignment is observed to be less noticeable. These observations are distinct from traditional linear‐chain semicrystalline polymers like polyethylene due to distinct characteristics of backbone/side‐chain combination and the crystallographic characteristics in DPP polymers. Furthermore, a stable and isotropic charge carrier mobility is obtained from fabricated organic field‐effect transistors. This study deconvolutes the alignment of different components within the thin‐film microstructure and highlights that crystallite rotation and chain slippage are the primary deformation mechanisms for semiconducting polymers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

X‐SPEC is a high‐flux spectroscopy beamline at the KIT (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology) Synchrotron for electron and X‐ray spectroscopy featuring a wide photon energy range. The beamline is equipped with a permanent magnet undulator with two magnetic structures of different period lengths, a focusing variable‐line‐space plane‐grating monochromator, a double‐crystal monochromator and three Kirkpatrick–Baez mirror pairs. By selectively moving these elements in or out of the beam, X‐SPEC is capable of covering an energy range from 70 eV up to 15 keV. The flux of the beamline is maximized by optimizing the magnetic design of the undulator, minimizing the number of optical elements and optimizing their parameters. The beam can be focused into two experimental stations while maintaining the same spot position throughout the entire energy range. The first experimental station is optimized for measuring solid samples under ultra‐high‐vacuum conditions, while the second experimental station allows in situ and operando studies under ambient conditions. Measurement techniques include X‐ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), extended X‐ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS), photoelectron spectroscopy (PES) and hard X‐ray PES (HAXPES), as well as X‐ray emission spectroscopy (XES) and resonant inelastic X‐ray scattering (RIXS). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]