SOPHIE

Inside of the SOPHIE endstation
Photograph of the inside of the SOPHIE endstation. The X-ray beam reaches the focusing optics and the sample from the left of the picture, and behind the sample the 2D Eiger-LGAD detector can be observed.

The SOft x-ray Ptychography Highly Integrated Endstation (SOPHIE) is a novel soft X-ray ptychography endstation fully designed, assembled, and operated by the Microspectroscopy group at the Swiss Light Source (SLS). The endstation allows for the routine acquisition of high-resolution soft X-ray ptychography images whilst allowing for flexible sample environments, to accommodate the experimental requirements of the user community.

The endstation was assembled in 2023, before the SLS 2.0 upgrade shutdown, seeing first light at the SIM beamline of the SLS in September 2023. During the SLS 2.0 upgrade shutdown, the SOPHIE endstation was hosted at the SoftiMAX beamline of the MaxIV lighsource, in Lund, Sweden, where routine ptychography imaging was fully commissioned and opened to users for 3 semesters.

The SOPHIE endstation was moved back to SLS in July 2025, and it is now hosted at the SIM beamline of the SLS. User beamtime applications will be accepted from the March 2026 proposal call.

  • Fresnel zoneplate based X-ray beam focusing, with the possibility to tailor the beam spot size on the sample depending on the specific sample imaged
  • Long travel range for the zoneplate stage, allowing for installation of large focal distance optics and/or the possibility to image at tender X-ray energies (when beamline can provide)
  • Piezoelectric stage for sample positioning with interferometer feedback. Double-pass heterodyne interferometer with a novel 45° geometry designed to maximize the space available in the sample plane to install user-specific sample environments
  • Flexible sample environment, allowing for installation of user-specific sample environments (PCB for RF electrical excitations, environmental gas cell, in-situ mechanical straining setup, magnetic fields, 3D laminography imaging, etc.)
  • iLGAD-EIGER 514x514 px2 soft X-ray 2D counting detector with 12-bit dynamic range, up to 10 kHz frame rate
  • Large detector stage travel range, allowing for combination of ptychography with standard STXM imaging
  • Instrument controlled through Pixelator, with possibility for fully automated image acquisition based on the Pixelator python scripting library
  • Implement cryogenic sample cooling (LHe and LN2 will be available)
  • Implement automatic sample exchange, including option for a vacuum suitcase for UHV transfer of samples (not compatible with 3D imaging)
  • Fully commission 3D ptycho-laminography imaging
  • Implement time-resolved ptychography imaging by gating the 2D detector to the camshaft bunch

Related technical publications

A detailed description of the SOPHIE endstation is published open access in the Review of Scientific Instruments:

T. A. Butcher et al., Review of Scientific Instruments 96, 123704 (2025)

A detailed description of the iLGAD-EIGER detector used for the soft X-ray ptychography imaging experiments in SOPHIE is published open access in Communications Physics:

F. Baruffaldi et al., Communications Physics 8, 321 (2025)