Monty Cosby, SLAC

Abstract

Kevin Stone, Monty Cosby, Nicholas Strange, Vivek Thampy, Charles Troxel

Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA)

Beamline 2-1 is SSRL’s high-resolution X-ray diffraction beamline which collects significantly higher quality patterns at several orders of magnitude faster than laboratory instruments. Although synchrotron diffraction seems more advanced than laboratory diffraction the resulting data analysis is no different and is often easier than what is collected in the lab making it an excellent introduction to users before advancing to other X-ray techniques. To further improve on the ease of use in synchrotron powder diffraction at SSRL we have integrated a sample handling robot for autonomous beamline operation. This workflow enables automated acquisition of high-resolution powder diffraction patterns on over 100 samples in a day while minimizing the work required for data acquisition from staff scientists and users. Using this we will improve the accessibility of beamline quality data for both power users and new researchers alike. This high-throughput setup enables users to mail-in samples for a much faster, streamlined turnover in packing, shipping, and collecting ex situ data without the barriers of entry of writing a full proposal, needing to request beamtime months in advance, the experience required to efficiently run a beamline experiment, and associated travel costs.