Hard X-ray streak camera at the Advanced Photon Source

An X-ray streak camera capable of 1 to 2 ps time resolution has been in operation for the past two years at Sector 7 of the Advanced Photon Source (APS). It is typically used for laser-pump and X-ray probe experiments by using the Ti:Sapphire laser system installed in Sector 7. Techniques currently supported through standardized and pre-aligned experimental setups are liquid-phase absorption spectroscopy, reflectivity, and diffraction. With the laser running at 1 or 5 kHz, about 30% of the laser power is split off to trigger a photoconductive switch generating the deflection voltage ramp in the streak camera. Alternatively, the laser oscillator can be used to excite the sample at a rate of 88 MHz corresponding to the 324-bunch fill pattern of the APS. The deflection voltage is then a 1.05 GHz signal amplified to 10 W, which is obtained by tripling the APS RF.