The new materials-science end-station at MATLINE at ASTRID2 was inaugurated on Tuesday 9th of April 2019. The end-station was mainly financed by a grant from the Carlsberg Foundation given to Philip Hofmann, Zheshen Li, Liv Hornekær, Jeppe Lauritsen, Trolle Linderoth, Stefan Wendt og Jill Miwa. In addition, resources from the Department of Physics and Astronomy contributed to the project.

Details about MatLine

MatLine is a materials science beam line utilising synchrotron radiation from ASTRID2 in the soft X-ray to ultra violet spectral range. It uses surface science techniques, such as XPS (x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy) and UPS (ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy), to measure the chemical and electronic state of elements at the surface of materials.

The combination of STM and synchrotron radiation-based XPS in the same system is a major competitive advantage of the beamline, available only at very few facilities around the world. Around a third of the users are from DK, a quarter from Aarhus University and the rest from elsewhere in the world.

The new SPECS Phoibos 150 analyzer replaced a spectrometer which was more than 20 years old, resulting in average count rates more than one order of magnitude higher than the old system. This has allowed a more efficient use of the ASTRID2 beam and opens up a wider range of experiments and samples which can be measured. In addition, a new main chamber with improved pumping, bake-out and gas line system has created a more user-friendly end-station.