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A cryo scanning transmission X-ray microscope, the cryo-STXM, has been designed and commissioned at the Canadian Light Source synchrotron. The instrument is designed to operate from 100 - 4000 eV (lambda = 12.4 - 0.31 nm). Users can insert a previously frozen sample, through a load lock, and rotate it plus minus 70 degrees in the beam to collect tomographic data sets. The sample can be maintained for extended periods at 92 K primarily to suppress radiation damage, and a pressure on the order of 10-9 Torr to suppress sample contamination. The achieved spatial resolution (30 nm) and spectral resolution (0.1 eV) are similar to other current soft X-ray STXMs, as demonstrated by measurements on known samples and test patterns. The data acquisition efficiency is significantly more favorable for both imaging and tomography. 2D images, 3D tomograms and 4D chemical maps of automotive hydrogen fuel cell thin sections are presented to demonstrate current performance and new capabilities, namely cryo-spectrotomography in the soft X-ray region., 56 pages

A new scanning transmission X-ray microscope (STXM) optimized for cryo-spectro-tomography with soft X-rays has been designed, built and commissioned at Canadian Light Source (CLS) beamline 10ID1 (130-2700 eV). It is controlled via a new python-based software package, pySTXM. A liquid N2 goniometer (Gatan 630, -80° to 80°), mounted on a computer controlled (x,y,Theta) tilt stage allows for spectro-tomographic measurements at cryogenic temperatures (-180°C) which reduces radiation damage. The CLS cryo-STXM is unique among the set of soft X-ray STXMs currently installed around the world. Details of the cryo-STXM design and examples of its performance will be presented.

A new soft X-ray scanning transmission X-ray microscope (STXM) optimized for cryo spectro-tomography was designed and commissioned at the Canadian Light Source (CLS). The instrument was required to achieve ultra high vacuum and be compatible with in-situ plasma cleaning. It also required a scintillator detector, and the design of this detector had to evolve to meet these environmental requirements. The scintillator deposition technique, and the suppression of background by introduction of an edge filter are also presented.

The Canadian Macromolecular Crystallography Facility (CMCF) 08ID-1 beamline at the Canadian Light Source (CLS) is in the later stages of commissioning. The photon source is a small-gap in-vacuum undulator (SGU), which was designed in-house with a support structure and vacuum chamber from RMP of Italy. The undulator magnets were shimmed at the CLS and the SGU was installed in the 2.9 GeV storage ring. The storage ring has had currents up to 300 mA safely injected and stored since its first light in the diagnostic beamline in December of 2003. At these storage ring currents, the 7th harmonic of the SGU will yield a photon flux on the sample at the endstation on the order of ∼ 5 × 10 12 at 12 keV. The overall design of the beamline includes white beam slits, indirectly cryo-cooled first crystal of the DCM and sagittally focusing second crystal, and vertically focussing ULE mirror. The endstation of the beamline is innovative and robust, and was manufactured by ACCEL according to CLS specifications. The beamline controls, are being developed based on EPICS, and complemented with a user-friendly interface. The scientific goal of the 08ID-1 beamline is to operate a protein crystallography MAD beamline suitable for studying small crystals and crystals with large unit cells.