Nanoscale spectromicroscopy with the full-field X-ray microscope at the BESSY II electron storage ring in the soft and tender X-ray range

In this paper, we give an overview of the nanoscale spectromicroscopy studies performed with the full-field X-ray microscope at the BESSY II electron storage ring. We do not consider spectromicroscopy studies performed with X-ray microscopes operated at other synchrotron sources. Such studies can be found in the literature. To our knowledge, the full-field X-ray microscope at the BESSY II storage ring is the first one operating with both a plane-grating-monochromator (PGM) beamline equipped with multi-layer optics for the tender X-ray range, as well as with standard optical elements for the soft X-ray range. We discuss how this instrument has been used in various published NEXAFS-TXM studies to probe low dimensional nanostructures. This research work paves the way for understanding electronic structures approaching the atomic scale, and will thereby help in the design of tailored functional systems.