BM30

Synopsis

FAME is dedicated to X-ray absorption spectroscopy. FAME covers a wide variety of scientific fields, materials science, biophysics, chemistry but focuses mainly in geochemical sciences where, in most cases, the probed elements are highly diluted.

Disciplines

• Environmental Sciences
• Earth and Planetary Sciences
• Chemistry
• Life Sciences
• Physics
• Materials and Engineering
• Cultural Heritage

Applications

• Hydrothermal fluids
• Mineralogy
• Geochemistry and soil (speciation of heavy metals in a natural or polluted soil)
• Geochemistry and biological systems (cells, plants etc. in relation to toxicological studies, phytoremediation etc.)
• Structural biology
• Catalysis
• Electrochemistry
• Physic and material sciences

Techniques

• XAS - X-ray absorption spectroscopy
• EXAFS - extended X-ray absorption fine structure
• XANES - X-ray absorption near-edge structure
• XRF - X-ray fluorescence

Sample environments

• Large volume high-pressure/high-temperature vessel (0-1500 bars; 20-1200°C)
• Operando catalysis reactor with remote gas control system
• Liquid helium cryostat (5-300K)

Detectors

• 16-element Ge solid state detector (Mirion) for fluorescence measurement
• Silicon drift detectors (Vortex) for fluorescence measurement
• Si diodes (Hamamatsu) for monitoring and transmitted intensity measurements

Technical details

FAME was constructed to meet scientific requests coming primarily from the geochemistry community, in particular environmental sciences. X-ray absorption spectroscopy is an essential tool in this research domain in terms of sensitivity and selectivity (elements of interest are often diluted, long-range order can be limited): it yields crucial information, in particular, speciation. From the beginning, in 2002, the technical emphasis of FAME was directed at determining atomic environments at very low concentration, with an optimal resolution.

[1] Proux et al., "FAME: A new beamline for X-ray absorption investigations of very-diluted systems of environmental, material & biological interests", Physica Scripta 115 (2005) 970-973.

[2] Proux et al., "Feedback system of a liquid-nitrogen-cooled double-crystal monochromator: design and performances", Journal of Synchrotron Radiation 13 (2006) 59-68.

[3] Hazemann et al., "High-resolution spectroscopy on an X-ray absorption beamline", Journal of Synchrotron Radiation 16 (2009) 283-292.