XTIP - A New Dedicated Beamline for Synchrotron X-ray Scanning Tunneling Microscopy

Recently, substantial progress was made on Argonne's Synchrotron X-ray Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (SX-STM) project. In particular, we demonstrated the power of SX-STM for elemental characterization of individual nano-islands with single atom height sensitivity, developped a new smart tip concept, and demonstrated imaging of nanoscale magnetic domains. Further substantial advances are expected using the new low temperature (LT) SX-STM system. To fully exploit the special capabilities of the new LT x-ray microscope, XTIP, a dedicated beamline for SX-STM is under construction at the Advanced Photon Source. To meet the scientific objective of the nanoscience and nanomagnetism communities most effectively, we are building a soft x-ray beamline with full polarization control operating in the 500-2000 eV range. The dedicated XTIP beamline will provide researchers access to a one-of-a-kind instrument. Among the potential breakthroughs are "designer" materials created from controlled assembly of atoms and molecules, and the emergence of entirely new phenomena in chemistry and physics.

Use of the Advanced Photon Source and the Center for Nanoscale Materials was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, under contract DE-AC02-06CH11357.