NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN SOFT-X-RAY MONOCHROMATORS FOR 3RD GENERATION SYNCHROTRON-RADIATION SOURCES

The advent of third generation synchrotron soft X-ray radiation source s has opened up many new opportunities for the use of spectroscopy and microscopy to study the structure of complex materials. The ultra-hig h brightness of these sources offers the possibility of combining the two techniques so that the spectroscopy of microscopic areas of a mate rial may be studied (spectromicroscopy), and in addition offers tremen dous flux and resolution enhancements for traditional macroscopic surf ace studies. The optical properties of both bending magnet and undulat or sources for use in third generation soft X-ray sources offer signif icant possibilities for improving the performance of optical systems c ompared with traditional designs. We will describe two recent such adv ances in beamline optical system design at the advanced light source ( ALS) and review the performance of a current generation of undulator b ased beamlines at the ALS.