Initial Results and Future Plans for the Soft X-ray Instrument for Materials at the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS)

For two years ultrafast high intensity x-ray pulses have been available at the Linac Coherent Light Source, the x-ray free electron laser at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. The soft x-ray instrument (SXR) operates at an energy range from 480eV-2000eV and features a plane grating monochromator as well as a bendable refocusing mirror system. The measured performance of the instrument will be presented as well as the future direction for instrumentation development. \\[4pt] Acknowledgement: This research was carried out on the SXR Instrument at the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), a division of SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and an Office of Science user facility operated by Stanford University for the U.S. Department of Energy. The SXR Instrument is funded by a consortium whose membership includes the LCLS, Stanford University through the Stanford Institute for Materials Energy Sciences (SIMES), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), University of Hamburg through the BMBF priority program FSP 301, and the Center for Free Electron Laser Science (CFEL).