Physics

Small-angle X-ray scattering

Synchrotron radiation

Sample (material)

Synchrotron

Millisecond

Optics

Full width at half maximum

Astronomy

Beamline

Beam (structure)

Composite material

Scattering

Materials science

Diamond

Optoelectronics

Thermodynamics

Journal of Synchrotron Radiation

Beamline I22 at Diamond Light Source is dedicated to the study of soft-matter systems from both biological and materials science. The beamline can operate in the range 3.7 keV to 22 keV for transmission SAXS and 14 keV to 20 keV for microfocus SAXS with beam sizes of 240 µm × 60 µm [full width half-maximum (FWHM) horizontal (H) × vertical (V)] at the sample for the main beamline, and approximately 10 µm × 10 µm for the dedicated microfocusing platform. There is a versatile sample platform for accommodating a range of facilities and user-developed sample environments. The high brilliance of the insertion device source on I22 allows structural investigation of materials under extreme environments (for example, fluid flow at high pressures and temperatures). I22 provides reliable access to millisecond data acquisition timescales, essential to understanding kinetic processes such as protein folding or structural evolution in polymers and colloids.

I22: SAXS/WAXS beamline at Diamond Light Source – an overview of 10 years operation