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.