The second macromolecular crystallography beamline, X10SA (PXII), was established in 2005 through a partnership between the Max Planck Society (MPG) and the pharmaceutical companies Novartis and Hoffmann-La Roche. Designed to provide an excellent balance between a small X-ray beam and low beam divergence, PXII is ideally suited to both high-throughput crystallography for industrial drug discovery and challenging academic research. Over the past two decades, the beamline has attracted additional industrial partners, and today the majority of beam time is dedicated to proprietary research.
In October 2023, PXII closed for a major refurbishment as part of the SLS 2.0 upgrade. Alongside the storage ring upgrade, all three macromolecular crystallography (MX) beamlines were extensively modernised with new optics, upgraded instrumentation, redesigned experimental end stations, and enhanced software. These improvements fully exploit the increased brilliance of the new storage ring, delivering higher flux, improved beam stability, and increased automation for more efficient and reliable experiments.
Specifications
| Wavelength range (Å) | 0.62 to 1.77 (0.41 to 2.5 available on request) |
|---|---|
| Spectral range (keV) | 7 - 20 (5 - 30 available on request) |
| Flux at 12.4 keV at 400 mA (ph/s) | 8 x 1012 |
| Beamsize at sample size h x v (μm²) | 25 x 25 (other sizes available on request) |
| Sample Changer | SLS TELL with unipucks and SPINE pins |
| Detector | EIGER2 16 M |
Beamline Partners
