A dedicated x-ray microscopy and micro-spectroscopy beamline at LNLS-2 for Biomedical, Earth and Environmental sciences

PEREZ, CARLOS A; BARRERA, RA; XAVIER, RP; BONGIOVANNI, GUILLERMINA A.; SANCHEZ, HÉCTOR.

Campinas

Workshop; 2nd Workshop LNLS-2: Scientific Case; 2011

Laboratorio Nacional de Luz Sincrotron y el Ministeriode Ciencia y tecnología de Brasil

Photons are an interesting probe for matter because of the variety of interaction modes. Of these, absorption, diffusion and diffraction bring almost directly valuable chemical and structural information about the sample. The advent of synchrotron radiation (SR) with the unique characteristic (intensity, tunability polarization, extremely low divergence, etc.) attracted great attention. Because of the very low energy deposit in matter and the variety of interactions, and thus of the information than can be extracted, it became evident that photon microprobes may become an excellent probe for matter if one could concentrate enough photons in a micron-size spot. Since the advent of SR, enormous progress has been made concerning the performance of x-ray optics, resulting in the realization of powerful photon microprobes [1]. There is a growing need for trace elemental analysis at a level less than part per million by weight (ppm) in nearly every scientific field. The first step of bulk level trace elemental analysis rapidly becoming insufficient and analytical techniques capable of mapping the distribution of each element at the highest resolution are desired. The next sections will describe some general aspect about three main research areas which will greatly benefit from the use a SR x-ray microprobe from a new high brilliance source due to its high sensitivity and high spatial resolution as well. As a consequence of our experience during the last years at the LNLS XRF fluorescence beamline some specific scientific cases can be possible to identify in each area.