The Alvra experimental station at the Swiss X-ray free-electron laser, SwissFEL, investigates ultrafast dynamics in chemical and biological systems using X-ray scattering and spectroscopy techniques. A key feature of Alvra is its unique capability to perform time-resolved X-ray emission and resonant inelastic X-ray scattering in the tender X-ray regime, currently not available at other XFEL endstations, combined with simultaneous access to X-ray absorption spectroscopy and X-ray solution scattering. Together with sub-35 fs time resolution enabled by advanced timing diagnostics, this positions Alvra as a versatile instrument for ultrafast chemical dynamics in the liquid phase. Here we cover the various technical aspects of the beamline and experimental station, and present some examples of experimental results measured during the first years of SwissFEL commissioning and user operation.

The structural biology method of X-ray footprinting mass spectrometry (XFMS) is available at two national synchrotron beamlines in the USA: one at the Advanced Light Source (ALS) on the West Coast and the other at the National Synchrotron Light Source II on the East Coast. XFMS is a solution-state technique that utilizes oxidative modifications of proteins at micromolar concentrations in aqueous buffer to extract structural information. X-rays are employed to generate hydroxyl radicals in situ, which covalently modify specific protein side chains. These modifications are subsequently quantified using liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry. Ratiometric changes in modification levels between two protein states (e.g. with and without ligand) generate a relative solvent accessibility map of the protein pairs, which serves to reveal structural features. Up until recently, the XFMS capability was available as part of a shared program at the ALS without a dedicated beamline. In this article, wedescribe the commissioning of ALS beamline 3.3.1, dedicated to XFMS, including the installation of a new focusing mirror, the design and construction of a new endstation with automated sample handling and exposure capabilities, and the use of accurate empirical dose calculations using Gafchromic film. Finally, we showcase the new beamline capabilities using two protein systems.

The paper presents a comprehensive description of a new setup implemented and commissioned at the SEXTANTS beamline of Synchrotron SOLEIL for absorption and scattering experiments with X-ray beams carrying an orbital angular momentum, also known as twisted X-ray beams. Two alternative methods have been implemented, based on the use of either spiral zone plates or fork grating devices, and we show how they can be used for both defining and assessing the orbital angular momentum of an X-ray beam. We also demonstrate that cascading multiple devices enables integer operations on the orbital angular momentum of the resulting X-ray beam. Finally, we report the results of the first resonant scattering pilot experiments in transmission and reflection mode, intended to assess the feasibility of future users' measurements. The availability of twisted soft X-rays complements the range of experimental techniques in elastic, resonant and coherent scattering available at the SEXTANTS beamline.

Phase contrast and dark-field imaging are relatively new X-ray imaging modalities that provide additional information to conventional attenuation-based imaging. However, this new information comes at the price of a more complex acquisition scheme and optical components. Among the different techniques available, such as grating interferometry or edge illumination, modulation-based and more generally single-mask/grid imaging techniques simplify these new procedures to obtain phase and dark-field images by shifting the experimental complexity to the numerical post-processing side. This family of techniques involves inserting a membrane into the X-ray beam that locally modulates the intensity to create a pattern on the detector which serves as a reference. However, the topological nature of the mask used seems to determine the quality of the reconstructed phase and dark-field images. We present in this article an in-depth study of the impact of the membrane parameters used in a single-mask imaging approach. A spiral topology seems to be an optimum both in terms of resolution and contrast-to-noise ratio compared with random and regular patterns.

To exploit the thousand-fold increase in spectral brightness of modern light sources, increasingly intricate experiments are being conducted that demand extremely precise beam trajectory. Maintaining the optimal trajectory over several hours of an experiment with the needed precision necessitates active drift control. Here, we outline time varying Bayesian optimization (TVBO) as a data driven approach for robust drift correction, and illustrate its application for a split and delay optical system composed of six crystals and twelve input dimensions. Using numerical simulations, we exhibit the application of TVBO for linear drift, non-smooth temporal drift as well as constrained TVBO for multi-objective control settings, representing real-life operating conditions. This approach can be easily adapted to other X-ray beam conditioning and guidance systems, including multi-crystal monochromators and grazing-incidence mirrors, to maintain sub-micrometer and nanoradian beam stability over the course of an experiment spanning several hours.

Future synchrotron light sources are being designed to deliver significantly higher brightness and coherence, enabling faster scanning and more advanced imaging techniques. However, realizing these capabilities requires improved X-ray beam stability, as vibrations directly limit measurement accuracy and image quality. At the NSLS-II Hard X-ray Nanoprobe (HXN), a local mechanical feedback system mitigates low-frequency motion but provides only limited suppression of dominant vibrations at 27 Hz and 120 Hz. To address this limitation, this work explores the use of the electron beam itself as the actuator for feedback by integrating X-ray beam position monitor signals into the fast orbit feedback system through a dedicated electrometer. Experimental results show that this approach effectively suppresses the dominant vibration peaks and enhances stability at the focusing point. Benchmark ptychography measurements further confirm that electron-beam-based feedback reduces background fluctuations and mitigates vibration-induced artifacts under fast-scanning conditions. These results establish the feasibility of using the electron beam as a feedback actuator for next-generation synchrotron applications and provide an experimental assessment of its potential and limitations.

Corrigendum to the article by Hegde et al. [(2025). J. Synchrotron Rad. 32, 757-765].

Fibre-reinforced polymer composites are utilized across many industries for their stiffness and strength. Visualization of their internal structure is critical to understand their mechanical properties, with computed tomography serving as apopular non-destructive method. While classical tomographic reconstruction algorithms do not rely on training data, modern machine-learning-based methods require large datasets that realistically reflect experimental imaging conditions. However, acquiring such datasets for composites is challenging due to limited access to the ground truth and the high cost of repeated scans. There is therefore a need for realistic, controllable and labelled synthetic phantoms. To address this gap, we present FibreSimulator, an open-source Python tool that generates 3D synthetic phantoms of unidirectional fibre-reinforced polymers with customizable material properties, fibre orientations and geometrical features. The simulator is integrated with the ASTRA toolbox to simulate tomographic scans of the generated phantoms. We demonstrate its capacity through experiments evaluating how tomographic scan settings affect reconstruction and segmentation. Simulated tomographic experiments show that reducing the number of X-ray projections or lowering beam intensity (i.e. increasing noise) leads to blurred fibre boundaries, overestimated fibre diameters and fewer detectable fibres. While these qualitative effects are well known, FibreSimulator enables their systematic and quantitative investigation under fully controlled conditions, with access to the ground truth. In particular, by varying acquisition parameters and composite properties, we observe a nonlinear trend in detection accuracy arising from undersampling and fibre-overlap artefacts. Such controlled studies are difficult to perform experimentally due to cost, limited repeatability and absence of the ground truth. These results highlight FibreSimulator as a valuable tool for optimizing parameters and guiding experimental design under controllable conditions.

This study presents a comprehensive comparison of image quality between synchrotron-based and laboratory-based nano-computed tomography (nano-CT) systems, using a standardized 3D test phantom composed of monodisperse silica spheres. A round-robin approach was employed across multiple international facilities to benchmark performance across various imaging modalities and setups, including absorption and phase contrast techniques. Image quality was quantitatively assessed using three-dimensional signal-to-noise ratio (SNR3D), detection effectiveness (DE3D) and modulation transfer function (MTF3D) metrics. The results reveal that, while synchrotron-based nano-CT consistently delivers superior spatial resolution and shorter scan times, laboratory-based systems demonstrate competitive image quality at the cost of extended acquisition durations. Beyond the experimental comparison, the main contribution of this work is a standardized, open-source analysis framework that quantifies nano-CT image quality using SNR3D, DE3D and MTF3D of a specific phantom. This combination of metrics provides a reproducible basis for cross-platform benchmarking of synchrotron and laboratory nano-CT implementations and can be readily applied to future instruments.

The BAMline at the BESSY II synchrotron (Berlin, Germany) is a multi-purpose beamline that is used for computed tomography, among other techniques. For more than 20 years it has been used in various scientific fields to access and analyze internal structural features such as porosity, cracks or delamination. The general trend of tomographic X-ray imaging is moving towards in situ and operando studies to access the above-mentioned features under the most realistic conditions. This article presents the X-ray computed tomography (XCT) capabilities and the software suite, such as live reconstruction available to imaging users. Direct XCT reconstruction plays an important role in the quality control of the performed experiments and is particularly crucial for insitu and operando experiments. The BAMline now offers a sequence-based step-scan XCT that enables preview reconstruction during the scan to gain early insight into the scanned sample even while the scan is in progress. In addition, the sequence-based scheme includes lateral shifts, thereby mitigating ring artifacts and improving image quality. Finally, since XCT scan parameters, such assample-detector distance and beam energy, are of utmost importance, we devised calculation software allowing control of monochromators to set the desired beam spectrum.