Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 29, 2025

Sample Preparation and Transfer Protocol for In-Vacuum Long-Wavelength Crystallography on Beamline I23 at Diamond Light Source
Published on: April 23, 2021
Beamline simulations using monochromators with high d-spacing crystals
X J Yu1, X Chi1, T Smulders2
1Singapore Synchrotron Light Source, National University of Singapore, 5 Research Link, Singapore 117603, Singapore.
Abstract:
Monochromators for synchrotron radiation beamlines typically use perfect crystals for the hard X-ray regime and gratings for soft X-rays. There is an intermediate range, typically 1-3 keV (tender X-rays), which common perfect crystals have difficulties covering and gratings have low efficiency, although some less common crystals with high d-spacing could be suitable. To evaluate the suitability of these crystals for a particular beamline, it is useful to evaluate the crystals' performance using tools such as ray-tracing. However, simulations for double-crystal monochromators are only available for the most used crystals such as Si, Ge or diamond. Here, an upgrade of the SHADOW ray-tracing code and complementary tools in the OASYS suite are presented to simulate high d-spacing crystals with arbitrary, and sometimes complex, structures such as beryl, YB66, muscovite, etc. Isotropic and anisotropic temperature factors are also considered. The YB66 crystal with 1936 atomic sites in the unit cell is simulated, and its applicability for tender X-ray monochromators is discussed in the context of new low-emittance storage rings.

