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.

• Space - Examining the mineralogy of samples returned from the asteroids Ryugu and Bennu

The DIAD beamline has the unrivalled capability to access multiscale, multi-modal information, granting users the ability to investigate highly dynamic systems.

Key Features

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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.