The materials science X-ray beamline BL8 at the DELTA storage ring

The instrumentation of the hard X-ray beamline BL8 at the 1.5 GeV Dortmund Electron Accelerator DELTA is described, and the properties of the X-ray optical elements are presented together with experimental data of different fields of research. The beamline, which makes use of the photons emitted by a superconducting asymmetric wiggler, is dedicated to X-ray studies--especially X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS)--in the spectral range from about 1 keV to ca. 25 keV photon energy using three different monochromators, namely YB66(400), Si(111) and Si(311). The endstation comprises a 6-axis diffractometer that is capable of carrying heavy loads related to non-ambient sample environments such as high pressure cells, cryostats or even complete ultrahigh vacuum systems. X-ray absorption spectra from several reference compounds illustrate the performance of the beamline optics concerning e.g. energy range, energy resolution and beam stability. Fluorescence detection enables the investigation of dilute sample systems, and surface sensitive reflection mode experiments are possible for thin film studies.