AI Insight
A new Transition Edge Sensor (TES) array X-ray spectrometer has become operational at the BESSY II synchrotron facility in Germany, marking the first and only such instrument at a European synchrotron source. The spectrometer was developed through collaboration between the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB), the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology in the United States. The instrument's photon detection efficiency surpasses traditional wavelength-dispersive X-ray emission spectrometers by 100 to 1,000 times, enabling detailed analysis of atomically thin layers, nanostructures, and highly diluted samples.
Why it matters
This advanced spectrometer significantly enhances the capability to study electronic properties of materials at extremely small scales and low concentrations, which is crucial for nanotechnology, materials science, and molecular research. The improved detection efficiency will enable experiments that were previously impossible or impractical at synchrotron facilities.
Europe’s first and only TES spectrometer at a synchrotron source is now in operation at BESSY II, developed within a collaboration between the HZB, the MPI-CEC (Mühlheim-an-der-Ruhr, Germany) and the NIST (Boulder, Colorado, U.S.). The photon detection efficiency of the new instrument exceeds that of wavelength-dispersive X-ray emission spectrometers by a factor of 100 to 1,000. It will be used to investigate the electronic properties of atomically thin layers, nanostructures and highly diluted atomic and molecular samples. The team is looking forward to receiving exciting research proposals from the user community.
Source: Superconducting TES array X-ray spectrometer goes into operation at BESSY II