Scientific Opportunities at the Canadian Light Source: X-ray Photoemission Electron Microscopy for nano-structured Materials Characterization

Synchrotron based X-ray Photoemission Electron Microscope (XPEEM) offers a unique opportunity to understand nano-structured materials. The uniqueness of this microscope is its ability to deliver spatially resolved Near Edge X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy. The spatial resolution obtained using this microscope is better than 25 nm for an ideally flat sample. The polarized nature of x-rays is exploited to characterize nano-structured magnetic materials by using X-ray magnetic circular and linear dichroism (XMCD and XMLD) spectro-microscopy. Though our main interest is on magnetic materials, other projects that are under investigation using this microscope are oxide nano-rods, carbon speciation in mineral ores, embrittlement in stainless steel alloys and phase separated organic thin films. 

XPEEM is one of the microscopes available at the Soft X-ray Spectromicroscopy beamline at the Canadian Light Source. The beamline has an elliptically polarized undulator capable of producing polarized X-ray photons with energy range from 130 to 2200 eV. In my talk, I will present several examples of how XPEEM has significantly improved our understanding of nano structured materials and the scientific opportunities accessible at the CLS.