Operational status of the X-ray powder diffraction beamline at the SESAME synchrotron

The Materials Science (MS) beamline at SESAME (Synchrotron-light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East), dedicated to the X-ray powder diffraction technique, started its operational phase in December 2020 by hosting its first users. The MS endstation comprises a two-circle diffractometer coupled with a PILATUS 300K area detector, with which direct beam images are collected and compared with the initial ray-tracing simulation results. We present a detailed description of the beamline components and the experimental characterization of the main instrumental parameters relying on the instrumental profile and the angular resolution. A representative example for microstructure investigations of a nanocrystalline material is demonstrated.