PHOTON SCIENCE

The Imaging beamLine (IBL) is dedicated to micro- and nanotomography at photon energies between 5 keV and 50 keV. The flexible design of the experimental stations allows for the investigation of samples with diameters ranging seamlessly from 10 µm up to 10 mm with optimized resolution for each field of view. In addition to conventional absorption contrast imaging, the beamline supports advanced phase contrast techniques, including inline phase contrast, grating-based phase contrast, and Zernike phase contrast.

The development of new materials highly demands the study of their three dimensional inner structures. Thus, in particular tomographic evaluation methods gain more and more importance in the materials characterization field. Characteristic length scales, which influence the structural properties, are often in the range of some micrometers down to a few nanometers.
PETRA III provides an exceptionally brilliant X-ray source with extremely low emittance and a high fraction of coherent photons, even in the hard X-ray regime. These unique beam properties enable ultra-fast in situ tomography with exceptional spatial and density resolution. Additionally, the high degree of coherence facilitates advanced phase contrast imaging techniques, offering enhanced contrast in low-absorbing materials.

To address a broad range of structural length scales and experimental requirements, the Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon operates the Imaging Beamline (IBL) with two dedicated tomographic endstations:

• Micro-Tomography endstation: Optimized for studying larger samples with high resolution [1].
• Nano-Tomography endstation: Designed for nanoscale imaging with sub-micron resolution [2,3].

The IBL has a total beamline length of 87.5 m, ensuring optimal beam conditioning and experimental flexibility. For tomographic measurements at higher energies (up to 150 keV), an additional micro-tomography setup is available at the HEMS beamline.