Synchrotron Microscopy station upgrade for IRIS beamline

A project proposal for an upgrade of the microscopy station of the IRIS Beamline at Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin [1] has recently been approved by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) funding. Here we present the new BMBF project entitled: Connecting Scales in Vibrational Imaging: Synchrotron Microscopy, which is a joint collaborative research effort between Humboldt-Universität-Berlin and HZB.
The aim of this project is the construction of a new Synchrotron Microscopy Station for spatial-, and polarization-resolved infrared spectroscopy at the IRIS beamline of BESSY II with the additional capability to record Raman spectra from the same sample spot. The unique combination of methods will allow to acquire data across a broad range of lateral resolutions to account for broad sample heterogeneity. This is ensured by combining diffraction limited mid-IR microscopy and imaging (providing ~5-10 μm resolution) and near-field IR nanospectroscopy beyond the diffraction limit (10-20 nm resolution). Simultaneous Raman scattering, excited in the visible, and in parallel vibrational linear dichroism (VLD) imaging [2] will provide additional and complementary information on the samples.
Thereby, the new station can connect different levels of understanding of a vast range of complex biological and artificial samples, for example of biomedical origin and new hybrid materials. The approach utilizes new concepts for more sensitive optical spectroscopy and nanoscopy, in particular plasmons and phonons of nanostructures, which will further enhance the performance and range of applications at the beamline.