Remote and automated high-throughput powder diffraction measurements enabled by a robotic sample changer at SSRL beamline 2-1

Kevin H Stone; Monty R Cosby; Nicholas A Strange; Vivek Thampy; Richard C Walroth; Charles Troxel Jr

doi:10.1107/S1600576723007148

Remote and automated high-throughput powder diffraction measurements enabled by a robotic sample changer at SSRL beamline 2-1

J Appl Crystallogr. 2023 Sep 20;56(Pt 5):1480-1484. doi: 10.1107/S1600576723007148. eCollection 2023 Oct 1.

Authors

Kevin H Stone¹, Monty R Cosby¹, Nicholas A Strange¹, Vivek Thampy¹, Richard C Walroth¹, Charles Troxel Jr¹

Affiliation

¹ Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA.

Abstract

The general-purpose powder diffractometer beamline (BL2-1) at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL) is described. The evolution of design and performance of BL2-1 are presented, in addition to current operating specifications, applications and measurement capabilities. Recent developments involve a robotic sample changer enabling high-throughput X-ray diffraction measurements, applicable to mail-in and remote operations. In situ and operando capabilities to measure samples with different form factors (e.g. capillary, flat plate or thin film, and transmission) and under variable experimental conditions are discussed. Several example datasets and accompanying Rietveld refinements are presented.

Keywords: automated measurement; powder diffraction; robotic sample changers; synchrotron beamlines.

Grants and funding

Use of the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, is supported by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences under contract No. DE-AC02-76SF00515.