Diamond’s newest fully operational beamline is DIAD, the Dual Imaging and Diffraction (DIAD) beamline. DIAD was born from a scientific need to simultaneously obtain the 3D microstructure of a material and local information about its phase composition and strain. DIAD’s unique dual-beam setup is the world’s first beamline that can quasi-simultaneously perform X-ray imaging and diffraction.
The unique set up offers full/field imaging and tomography of 2D and 3D complex structures. Diffraction data is collected by a multi-axis robot arm mounted with a state-of-the-art Cd-Te Pilatus 3M detector (Fig 1). Users can perform spatially resolved phase identification; perform strain mapping using micro-diffraction; and perform in-situ and operando experiments that require spatially correlated results. Importantly, the simultaneous acquisition of imaging and diffraction data reduces lost down-time to mode switching, that is typical of other imaging and diffraction beamlines.
Experimental workflows on DIAD, post-processing, and analysis pipelines can all be automated using innovative in-house software. Users can access advanced data acquisition strategies, analyse their data live, and ultimately make informed decisions about their science to maximise the potential of their experimental time. DIAD saw its First Light in December 2018 and welcomed its first User in February 2021. Since then, it has hosted a wide range of users across several fields including, but not limited to: • Medicine - The behaviour of arterial stents under changing pressure for better patient outcomes • Environment: The dynamic study of plant root behaviour in climate change affected soils • Energy – The operando spatial distribution of charge in Li-ion batteries. • Materials – Stress induced cracking in nuclear containment materials. In summary, users can simultaneously collect time- and spatially-resolved information on both the crystallographic micro-structure and material macrostructure. The DIAD beamline has the unrivalled capability to access multiscale, multi-modal information, granting users the ability to investigate highly dynamic systems.
Key Features
Beamline optic | Diffraction branch | Imaging branch |
|---|---|---|
Source | Ten-pole wiggler as common source for both branches | |
Mirrors operation mode | M1 flat mirror | M3 flat mirror |
| M2 bendable mirror | M4 bendable mirror |
| Monochromatic | Pink or monochromatic |
Slits | S2 slits for DCM off-set compensation | S3 for DCM off-set compensation and beam size changes |
Monochromators | DCM1 with Si (111) crystals | DCM2 with Si (111) crystals |
Beam selector | Beam selector shared between both branches | |
Focusing elements | Platinum-coated KB system | Not applicable |
Maximum beam size at sample position | Variable beam size between 13 µm × 4 µm up to 50 µm × 50 µm | 1.7 mm × 1.7 mm |
Related publication: Reinhard, C. et al. Beamline K11 DIAD: A new instrument for dual imaging and diffraction at Diamond Light Source. Journal of Synchrotron Radiation 28.6: 1985-1995 (2021). DOI: 10.1107/S1600577521009875.
Funding acknowledgement: DIAD was part-funded by the University of Birmingham.