Sample-angle feedback for diffraction anomalous fine-structure spectroscopy

J Synchrotron Radiat. 1998 May 1;5(Pt 3):911-3. doi: 10.1107/S0909049597014313. Epub 1998 May 1.

Abstract

Diffraction anomalous fine-structure (DAFS) experiments measure Bragg peak intensities as continuous functions of photon energy near a core-level excitation. Measuring the integrated intensity at each energy makes the experiments prohibitively slow; however, in many cases DAFS can be collected quickly by measuring only the peak intensity at the center of the rocking curve. A piezoelectric-actuator-driven stage has been designed and tested as part of a sample-angle feedback circuit for locking onto the maximum of the rocking curve while the energy is scanned. Although software peak-tracking requires only a simple calculation of diffractometer angles, it is found that the additional hardware feedback dramatically improves the reproducibility of the data.