A pEek on the lab

The Berlin Laboratory for innovative X-ray Technologies aims at knowledge and technology transfer in the field of spectroscopy and imaging with soft and hard X-rays. BLiX is part of the endowed professorship "Analytical X-Ray Physics" presided by Prof. Birgit Kanngießer at the Technical University of Berlin (TUB). BLiX is jointly operated by the Institute of Physics and Astronomy of the Technische Universität Berlin and the Max-Born-Institute (MBI). In 2021, the joint research group SyncLab between the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) and BLiX was established. This joint research group is identifying and promoting the advantages of combining the laboratory methods developed at BLiX with the capabilities offered by large scale facilities like BESSY II operated by HZB. 

BLiX is a place of collaborative technology development in the knowledge triangle of research - innovation - education. BLiX operates at the interface of scientific research and industrial application with the goal to transfer research results into instrument prototypes, with a focus on instruments and techniques that can be used in a laboratory environment without the need for large scale facilities.

Laboratory micro-XRF enables a fast, destruction-free elemental analysis with lateral resolutions in the range of 20 µm to 50 µm. When using two X-ray optics in a confocal arrangement, full 3D mapping is rendered feasible. Two setups are available at BLiX for micro-XRF and confocal micro-XRF – a commercially available M4 tornado from Bruker Nano and a dedicated BLiX spectrometer. In a recent publication we show, that CMXRF can be combined with cyclization of batteries, facilitating operando measurements.

I. Mantouvalou, et al., Operando Measurement of Transition Metal Deposition in a NMC Li-Ion Battery Using Laboratory Confocal Micro-X-ray Fluorescence Spectroscopy. Small 2025, 21, 2502460. https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.202502460

With soft X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) the K absorption edges of light elements such as carbon, nitrogen or oxygen and the L edges of transition metals can be probed, elucidating the chemical environment of the analyte. The use of a laser-produced plasma source in combination with a transmission spectrometer using reflection zone plates enables static as well as transient measurements with high efficiency and high resolving power. Measurement times vary from single shots (500 ps) to minutes for static spectra to days for stable transient investigations. Recently, through the development of reflection zone plates on curved substrates and the use of flat-jet technology, transient measurements on liquids are facilitated.

Richard Gnewkowet al., "Laboratory soft X-ray setup for transient absorption experiments in the liquid phase using a laser-produced plasma source," Optica 11, 744-752 (2024) https://doi.org/10.1364/OPTICA.517698

We operate an X-ray emission spectrometer for chemical speciation with a HAPG crystal as dispersive element. The high efficiency of the optics enables the measurement of Kß and valence-to-core transitions (VtC) even with dilute samples.