P02.1 Powder Diffraction and Total Scattering Beamline

Dear Users of P02.1,

due to a degraded insertion device, the beamline suffers from a serious loss of photon flux. Therefore, the beamline cannot accept in situ or operando studies in the run period March-July 2025.

Submission of regular proposals for ex situ experiments (e.g. PXRD and TS/PDF measurements in capillaries, etc.) will be possible. Though, experimenters have to account for prolonged measurement times due to the reduction in photon flux.

If you have planned for an in situ or operando experiment and you are in doubt if your experiments are feasible or you are looking for alternative experimental stations at PETRA III, please get in contact with the P02.1 beamline scientist in charge Dr. Martin Etter
(E-mail: martin.etter@desy.de).

We apologize for any inconveniences.

The Powder Diffraction and Total Scattering Beamline, P02.1, is dedicated to study of the atomic scale structure of polycrystalline materials, both in terms of long-range periodic order – by Bragg diffraction – and local structural features, using total scattering and X-ray Pair Distribution Function (PDF) analysis.  We support users from a wide range of fields including chemistry, material science, solid state physics and engineering.

P02.1 is a side station of the P02 beamline, operating simultaneously and independently of the mainline station (P02.2 – Extreme Conditions). Simultaneous operation is achieved by the beamline having a fixed high energy of 60 keV (λ ~ 0.207 A), which makes the beamline well suited for studies of

  • Studies of high-Z containing polycrystalline samples
  • Stress-strain measurements
  • In situ or operando studies of chemical reactions, including crystallisation, catalysis and battery cells
  • Investigation of nanostructured or amorphous materials

The beamline provides an unfocussed beam the size of which may be varied from ~0.2×0.2 mm2 to 1.0×1.0 mm2. Two VAREX XRD4343CT area detectors mounted on two long translation stages are available for data collection. At the longest sample to detector distances (SDD) of about 2.4 m standard powder (Bragg) diffraction suitable for structure solution and Rietveld refinement may be measured. At the minimum SDD (approx. 0.2 m) total scattering data for PDF analysis may be obtained.

Beamline layout of P02.1

A sketch layout of beamline P02.1