The new Xeuss 3.0 UHR is now installed at the Diamond Light Source where training is about to start. The end of installation coincided with the S4SAS conference held at the Diamond Light Source which gave the participants the opportunity to see the new system and discuss the possibilities and features offered by the latest generation SAXS system. Besides shear performance offered by the combination of the system length, the MetalJet source and the full length motorized travel of the detector, users were enthusiastic about the sample stage recognition of the system and the quality of sample-holders.

The Diamond-Leeds SAXS facility will be a multi-user facility covering a range of applications, including food science.

« We are extremely proud to deliver the Xeuss 3.0 to Diamond and the University of Leeds. It is our most advanced Laboratory SAXS system yet and seeing it installed next to the Diamond Light Source Beamlines is very inspiring. » said Peter Høghøj, CEO of Xenocs.

Diamond Leeds SAXS Facility

DL-SAXS is a multi-user and multidisciplinary Small- and Wide Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS/WAXS) research facility located at Diamond Light Source, on the UK Science and Innovation Campus at Harwell. Established through EPSRC strategic equipment funding, it is operated jointly between the University of Leeds and Diamond. It provides an access point to a state-of-the-art SAXS/WAXS instrument, not only for UoL researchers but also other UK users, providing more than 160 days of experimental beamtime per year. The facility encourages and supports the development and testing of new sample environments for advanced materials research and provides training for the next generation of X-ray scattering experts. DL-SAXS serves both fundamental and applied research, including use for industrial research. It also serves as a hub for strengthening and connecting activities to other UK-SAXS-labs of excellence.

DL-SAXS adds capacity to the UK research landscape and opens new perspectives to the UK for a wide range of science, including, for example, complex soft matter, polymers, bio-materials and advanced solid materials. These are used in industry sectors comprising pharmacy and healthcare, food, fine chemicals, agrochemicals, information and communications technology (ICT), energy, process engineering and manufacturing.

Equipment

DL-SAXS operates a Xenocs Xeuss 3.0 Small- and Wide Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS/WAXS) instrument, which provides enhanced research capability for high-end characterization of materials on the nanoscale, as well as for in situ and operando experiments under process and synthesis conditions. Strategic emphasis is placed on the development of new sample environments and feasibility testing prior to synchrotron experiments. Novel optics combined with scatterless-slit collimation eliminating parasitic noise facilitate nanoscale structure analysis from 0.1 to 500 nm. The metal-jet X-ray source provides very high photon flux at 9.2 keV (Gallium alloy) and is complemented with an X-ray micro-focus source at 17.5 keV (molybdenum). This not only allows the investigation of a wide range of soft and solid matter (from low to high atomic number), but also facilitates the integration of sample cells equipped with highly absorbing window materials such as high-pressure sample cells.

The facility is linked to the Diamond Leeds collaboration, supporting users in design, application and preparation of SAXS/WAXS experiments with cutting-edge X-ray scattering characterisation at the Diamond Light Source.