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In synchrotron facilities, imaging techniques are on high demand from the scientific community. Those related to X-ray microscopy are among the most prominent ones. Such techniques include scanning transmission x-ray microscopy (STXM), full-field transmission x-ray microscopy (TXM), and coherent diffraction imaging (CDI) which have a wide spectrum of applications ranging from clinical and biomedical sciences to nanotechnology and cultural heritage. Their advancement is achieved through specialisation and focused studies, often requiring dedicated beamline end-stations. On the other hand, scientific applications benefit from the combination of techniques in a complementary manner. Beamlines suitably designed to offer multiple techniques, instead of a single one, can host efficiently such combinatorial studies. In this paper, we present the diverse Soft X-ray microscopy techniques in use at the TwinMic beamline at Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste, namely, STXM combined with XRF spectroscopy, full-field TXM and Ptychography. We demonstrate the capabilities by examining two specific biological samples: U87MG cells exposed to CoFe2O4 nanoparticles and a stem section of a Solanum lycopersicum (tomato) plant. These specimens are representatives of a large sample class used in a wide range of scientific studies. The results show the potential that can be achieved in terms of imaging by accessing X-ray microscopy techniques during a single beamtime access in TwinMic.

Tin oxide (SnO2) thin films were deposited by radio-frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering on silicon and glass substrates in different oxygen-to-argon gas-flow ratio (O2-to-Ar = 0%, 10%, 50%). All films were deposited at room temperature and fixed working pressures, 10 mTorr. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurement suggests that all films were crystalline in nature except film deposited in argon environment. Thin films were annealed in air at 200 °C, 400 °C and 600 °C for two hours. All films were highly transparent except the film deposited only in the argon environment. It was also observed that transparency was improved with annealing due to decrease in oxygen vacancies. Atomic force microscopy (AFM), results showed that the surface of all the films were highly flat and smooth. Blue shift was observed in the absorption edge with annealing temperature. It was also observed that there was not big change in the absorption edge with annealing for films deposited in 10% and 50% oxygen-to-argon gas-flow ratio.

Nitrogen doped SnO2thin films (thickness ∼ 250 nm) were deposited at different substrate temperature by radio frequency (rf) sputtering method. Crystal structure, morphology and optical properties of these films were investigated by x-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and UV-VIS-NIR spectrophotometer, respectively. XRD measurement suggests that the film deposited at room temperature was amorphous in nature and films deposited at higher temperature were crystalline in nature. The film deposited at RT and 200 °C have transparency more than 90% in visible region but the film deposited at 400 °C has lesser transparency. Red shift was observed in the absorption edge may be due to decrease in ionicity due to the formation of the Sn-N bond.

ZnO thin films (thickness ∼ 400 nm) were prepared at different oxygen content (O2) by radio frequency (rf) sputtering method. Crystal structure and optical properties of these films were investigated by x-ray diffraction (XRD) and UV-VIS-NIR spectrophotometer, respectively. XRD measurement suggests that all films have hexagonal wurtzite structure. The transparency in the visible region of all the film is more than 90%. The optical absorption edge was described using the direct transition model proposed by Tauc and the optical band gap was calculated from the absorption coefficient by Tauc’s extrapolation procedure. The value of optical band gap was decreased with increase in the O2 content; due to Burstein-Moss shift.

The effect of Ne{sup +} ion sputtering on amorphous Ga-In-Zn-O (a-GIZO) thin films was investigated by using surface-sensitive, synchrotron-radiation-based, high-resolution X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). a-GIZO thin films having different compositions (Ga{sub 2}O{sub 3}:In{sub 2}O{sub 3}:ZnO = 1:1:1, 2:2:1, 3:2:1, 4:2:1) were investigated. It was found out that the amounts of the In and Zn contents relative to that of Ga decreased noticeably after sufficient sputtering, and that there occurred a subgap state above the valence band maximum and metallic states at the In 3d and 4d core levels as well as at the Fermi edge.

Transparent oxide semiconductor, a‐GaInZnO, thin films were deposited by radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering at different oxygen/Argon (O2/Ar) flow ratio on glass substrates. The effect of oxygen content was studied on the transmittance and optical band gap of these thin films. The average transmittance in the visible region decreased with increase in the oxygen content. The optical band gap also decreased with increase in the oxygen content. With increasing oxygen content, the absorption edge shifted to the longer wavelength due to the decreased Burstein‐Moss effect.

We describe the development of a streak camera system optimized for use in time‐resolved x‐ray absorption studies. Computer simulations of the system characteristics have been performed and a working version of the camera has been developed. The system has been used to perform time‐resolved x‐ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) experiments on a number of magnetic systems. These experiments demonstrate utility of the technique. Finally, concepts for improving the time resolution to the sub‐picosecond level are discussed.

Soft x‐ray lasing in the C VI Balmer α transition is observed in a capillary discharge. The capillary is made of polyethylene with a bore diameter of 1.2 mm. Plasma radiation from the discharge is analyzed using a toroidal mirror and a two‐meter grazing‐incidence spectrograph‐monochromator. The electron temperatures are measured at both the axial and the peripheral region close to the capillary wall, using space‐resolved spectra. A comparison of the branching ratio in the hot (axial) and the cool (peripheral) plasma regions indicates that there is a large population inversion between n=3 and 2 states of C5+ ions in the cool (Te∼13 eV) region of the capillary plasma. Relative line intensities of the C VI Hα and a number of non‐lasing lines are compared in this cool region as a function of capillary length. The C VI Hα line intensity increases exponentially whereas those of non‐lasing transitions increase linearly with an increase of the capillary length. The gain coefficient thus measured indicates 2.8 cm−...