The design and performance of a soft X-ray free-electron laser (FEL) beamline of the SPring-8 Compact free-electron LAser (SACLA) are described. The SPring-8 Compact SASE Source test accelerator, a prototype machine of SACLA, was relocated to the SACLA undulator hall for dedicated use for the soft X-ray FEL beamline. Since the accelerator is operated independently of the SACLA main linac that drives the two hard X-ray beamlines, it is possible to produce both soft and hard X-ray FEL simultaneously. The FEL pulse energy reached 110 µJ at a wavelength of 12.4 nm (i.e. photon energy of 100 eV) with an electron beam energy of 780 MeV.

We developed a single-shot X-ray spectrometer for wide-range high-resolution measurements of Self-Amplified Spontaneous Emission (SASE) X-ray Free Electron Laser (XFEL) pulses. The spectrometer consists of a multi-layer elliptical mirror for producing a large divergence of 22 mrad around 9070 eV and a silicon (553) analyzer crystal. We achieved a wide energy range of 55 eV with a fine spectral resolution of 80 meV, which enabled the observation of a whole SASE-XFEL spectrum with fully-resolved spike structures. We found that a SASE-XFEL pulse has around 60 longitudinal modes with a pulse duration of 7.7 ± 1.1 fs.

We developed an experimental platform for combinative use of an X-ray free electron laser (XFEL) and a high-power nanosecond laser. The main target of the platform is an investigation of matter under high-pressure states produced by a laser-shock compression. In this paper, we show details of the experimental platform, including XFEL parameters and the focusing optics, the laser irradiation system and X-ray diagnostics. As a demonstration of the high-power laser-pump XFEL-probe experiment, we performed an X-ray diffraction measurement. An in-situ single-shot X-ray diffraction pattern expands to a large angle side, which shows a corundum was compressed by laser irradiation.

The BL09XU beamline of SPring-8 has been reorganized into a beamline dedicated for hard X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (HAXPES) to provide advanced capabilities with upgraded optical instruments. The beamline has two HAXPES analyzers to cover a wide range of applications. Two sets of double channel-cut crystal monochromators with the Si(220) and (311) reflections were installed to perform resonant HAXPES analyses with a total energy resolution of less than 300 meV over a wide energy range (4.9–12 keV) while achieving a fixed-exit condition. A double-crystal X-ray phase retarder using diamond crystals controls the polarization state with a high degree of polarization over 0.9 in the wide energy range 5.9–9.5 keV. Each HAXPES analyzer is equipped with a focusing mirror to provide a high-flux microbeam. The design and performance of the upgraded instruments are presented.

A nanofocusing optical system—referred to as 100 exa—for an X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) was developed to generate an extremely high intensity of 100 EW/cm² (10²⁰ W/cm²) using total reflection mirrors. The system is based on Kirkpatrick-Baez geometry, with 250-mm-long elliptically figured mirrors optimized for the SPring-8 Angstrom Compact Free-Electron Laser (SACLA) XFEL facility. The nano-precision surface employed is coated with rhodium and offers a high reflectivity of 80%, with a photon energy of up to 12 keV, under total reflection conditions. Incident X-rays on the optics are reflected with a large spatial acceptance of over 900 μm. The focused beam is 210 nm × 120 nm (full width at half maximum) and was evaluated at a photon energy of 10 keV. The optics developed for 100 exa efficiently achieved an intensity of 1 × 10²⁰ W/cm² with a pulse duration of 7 fs and a pulse energy of 150 μJ (25% of the pulse energy generated at the light source). The experimental chamber, which can provide different stage arrangements and sample conditions, including vacuum environments and atmospheric-pressure helium, was set up with the focusing optics to meet the experimental requirements.