Soft X-Ray Absorption Spectroscopy at an X-ray Free Electron Laser

X-ray free electron lasers, providing coherent, ultrafast, high intensity x-ray pulses, have enabled groundbreaking scattering experiments to probe the atomic structure of materials on femtosecond timescales. Nonetheless, x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), one of the most fundamental and common x-ray techniques practiced at synchrotron light sources, has proven challenging to conduct with satisfactory signal-to-noise levels at soft x-ray energies using free electron laser sources. The ability to routinely collect high quality XAS spectra, especially in a time-resolved manner, will open many new scientific possibilities in the areas of ultrafast demagnetization, phase transitions and chemical dynamics to highlight a few. Here, we report how XAS using total fluorescence yield detection yields high signal-to-noise x-ray absorption spectra at an x-ray free electron laser source. Data were collected over multiple absorption edges on technologically relevant materials. These measurements were recorded on the Soft X-Ray Materials Science instrument at the Linac Coherent Light Source. The results are easily extendable to time-resolved measurements.