Specifications

Sample holders

Different supports are available to host the samples.
Users willing to bring their sample holders are asked to contact the staff to ensure the compatibility with the sample manipulation system.

1. Hollow holders

These holders are ideal for whenever the X-ray beam might be crossing the whole thickness of the sample. These holders are designed to work at 45° with respect to the X-ray beam direction and have a hole in the middle where the beam can pass through without exciting anything else but the sample.
Two designs are available: in both cases, the overall dimesions are 12 x 2.5 cm² with the longitudinal hole being 7.1 mm or 10 mm wide.
 

                                                                

Several samples can be mounted at once. They can be kept in place using teflon stripes screwed to the main structure, or kapton/carbon tapes.

                         

2. Flat holders 

These supports are best suited for Grazing Incidence and Reflectivity measurements, but they can also be used for collecting XRF maps.
They offer a large surface (12 x 5.5 cm²) to accomodate samples which can be mounted using teflon stripes screwed in the main structure. 
Sample nature may vary from thin films to artefacts of different shapes.

We have two versions: one in stainless steel and another one in teflon.

3. Glass slide holders 

These supports are designed to host sample supports having a circular shape of diameter 26mm.
This choice has proven very efficient for XRF maps collection in the case of thin sections (few μm) of biological samples.
The picture below shows 4 samples of rat organs freeze dried and deposited on an ultralene foil. The ultralene is kept tight and wrinkle-free by two plastic rings.

4. Total reflection holders 

These holders can host up to 3 glass reflectors and are dedicated to total reflection measurements.