Diffraction anomalous fine-structure spectroscopy at beamline BM2 at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility

Diffraction anomalous fine-structure (DAFS) spectroscopy uses resonant elastic X-rays scattering as an atomic, shell and site-selective probe that provides information on the electronic structure and the local atomic environment as well as on the long-range-ordered crystallographic structure. A DAFS experiment consists of measuring the Bragg peak intensities as a function of the energy of the incoming X-ray beam. The French CRG (Collaborative Research Group) beamline BM2-D2AM (Diffraction Diffusion Anomale Multi-longueurs d'Onde) at the ESRF (European Synchrotron Radiation Facility) has developed a state-of-the-art energy scan diffraction set-up. In this article the requirements for obtaining reliable DAFS data are presented and recent technical achievements are reported.