Beamline I14 is the hard X-ray nanoprobe beamline currently under construction at Diamond Light Source in Oxfordshire, UK. It is scheduled to come into operation in 2017. The beamline will be a dedicated facility for nanoscale microscopy and micro-nano SAXS, serving two endstations housed in a new external building approximately 175m from the main synchrotron ring. The nanoprobe endstation aims to achieve the smallest possible focus (initial aim 50nm) with the capability to exploit future optics developments. The optical design is optimised for scanning X-ray fluorescence, X-ray spectroscopy and diffraction. The mesoprobe endstation will be optimised to carry out simultaneous small and wide angle X-ray scattering studies as well as scanning fluorescence mapping, with a variable focus beam in the range 5µm – 100 nm. The beamline will complement electron and optical microscopy and enable new science in a number of areas spanning materials science, biology, engineering and earth science.
The I14 beamline will be housed in the same building as the new UK national electron microscopy facility, which provides 4 state-of-the-art electron microscopy suites covering the physical and life sciences. This facility combines staff and expertise from a number of different areas which we believe will allow us to make exciting progress in sample preparation techniques and correlative x-ray and electron microscopy studies. Here we present the design and key specifications of Beamline I14, and highlight potential applications.