A versatile experimental system for tracking ultrafast chemical reactions with X-ray free-electron lasers

An experimental system, SPINETT (SACLA Pump-probe INstrumEnt for Tracking Transient dynamics), dedicated for ultrafast pump-probe experiments using X-ray free-electron lasers has been developed. SPINETT consists of a chamber operated under 1 atm helium pressure, two Von Hamos spectrometers, and a large two-dimensional detector having a short work distance. This platform covers complementary X-ray techniques; one can perform time-resolved X-ray absorption spectroscopy, time-resolved X-ray emission spectroscopy, and time-resolved X-ray diffuse scattering. Two types of liquid injectors have been prepared for low-viscosity chemical solutions and for protein microcrystals embedded in a matrix. We performed a test experiment at SPring-8 Angstrom Compact free-electron LAser and demonstrated the capability of SPINETT to obtain the local electronic structure and geometrical information simultaneously. (C) 2019 Author(s). All article content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).