Commissioning of the Spherical Grating Monochromator Soft X-ray Spectroscopy Beamline at the Canadian Light Source

The Spherical Grating Monochromator (SGM) is a Dragon type soft x-ray beamline designed to provide users at the Canadian Light Source (CLS) with monochromatic photons with energies between 250 and 2000 eV. Commissioning of the beamline began in the spring of 2005 and is expected to be completed in July 2006. Aspects of the commissioning process included the use of an object oriented approach to developing the beamline controls, the employment of a beam based alignment procedure and a large amount of user involvement. A description of the beamline and the commissioning techniques used is presented, along with examples of the beamline performance and capabilities