The Short Pulse X-ray facility planned for the Advanced Photon Source (APS) upgrade will provide two sectors with photon beams having picosecond pulse duration. The Short Pulse Soft X-ray Spectroscopy (SPSXS) beamline will cover the 150-2000 eV energy range using an APS bending magnet. SPSXS is designed to take full advantage of this new timing capability in addition to providing circular polarized radiation. Since the correlation between time and electron momentum is in the vertical plane, the monochromator disperses in the horizontal plane. The beamline is designed to maximize flux and preserve the time resolution by minimizing the number of optical components. The optical design allows the pulse duration to be varied from 1.5 to 100 ps full width at half-maximum (FWHM) without affecting the energy resolution, and the resolution to be changed with minimal effect on the pulse duration. More than 10(9) photons s(-1) will reach the sample with a resolving power of 2000 and a pulse duration of ∼2 ps for photon energies between 150 and 1750 eV. The spot size expected at the sample position will vary with pulse duration and exit slit opening. At 900 eV and at a resolving power of 2000 the spot will be ∼10 µm × 10 µm with a pulse duration of 2.3 ps FWHM.
Keywords: VLS grating; picosecond X-ray pulses; soft X-ray beamline; time-resolved spectroscopy.