Sample¶
The endstation sample side: the reconfigurable heavy-sample tower, the tomographic rotation, and the sample translations. First cut; the endstation detector PVs are read from the NSLS2/hex-profile-collection startup files, the sample-stage PVs are pending, all carried confirm.
HEX places an engineering component, a working battery, or a bulk sample in the beam in the hex-endstation enclosure (the F-hutch, in a satellite building adjacent to Bldg. 742, ENC-1, SAT-1): for a tomographic scan of its microstructure, an energy-dispersive map of its internal strain and phase, or a powder pattern. The sample side is what makes HEX distinct on the floor: the tower carries up to 500 kg and is fully removable for custom in-situ / operando environments. Every axis here reuses a catalog Family, and nothing on this page coins a new one. They are modelled in the sample stage of the descriptor.
The sample side at a glance¶
| Asset | Family | PV | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
SampleTower |
Table |
the modular sample tower (configs A to D) | carries the specimen, up to 500 kg, fully removable for in-situ environments (STAGE-1) |
SampleRotation |
RotaryStage |
the tomographic rotation axis | rotates the sample for tomography (continuous fly) and diffraction (stepped) (STAGE-1) |
SampleStage |
LinearStage |
the sample x / y / z translations | positions the specimen and the gauge volume in the beam (STAGE-1) |
The heavy reconfigurable tower¶
The SampleTower is the heart of the HEX sample side, and the place HEX most stresses CORA's model. It is a modular support fixture that carries up to 500 kg and is fully removable, so a user can lift the whole tower out and install a custom in-situ rig in its place. It is configurable, with several documented configurations (configs A to D) and interface plates that adapt it to different loads. This is not a precision goniometer; it is a heavy stage.
CORA holds the line on reuse: the tower binds the catalog Table Family (the support-table anatomy the fleet already uses for hutch tables), and its load capacity and configuration set are carried as settings on the Asset, not as a new HeavyStage Family. A single fleet beamline with a heavy removable tower does not earn an abstraction; a second one would be the rule-of-three trigger (STAGE-1). The tower is named here so the reader knows the heavy-sample affordance is acknowledged and modelled by reuse, not drawn as new structure.
Rotating and translating the sample¶
The SampleRotation binds the catalog RotaryStage Family: it is the tomographic rotation axis, swept continuously for fly-scan computed tomography (the tomo_flyscan plan) and stepped for diffraction. The SampleStage binds the catalog LinearStage Family: the x / y / z translations that position the specimen and, for energy-dispersive diffraction, set where the gauge volume sits inside a bulky sample. The vertical translation is what the tomo_y_scan_loop plan steps to stitch a tall sample across several tomographic fields. Which physical axes are motorized and how they map to the logical roles is STAGE-1.
Sample environment¶
HEX's science is operando: following a working battery or a loaded engineering component in real time. The endstation is described as capable of housing complex sample environments, and the area behind the instrumentation accommodates large processing equipment for custom in-situ work. No specific rig (a load frame, a furnace, a cryostat, a battery cycler) is source-confirmed as installed, however, so in this cut CORA models no in-situ rig as an Asset (INSITU-1). When a specific environment is confirmed installed, it lands with the equipment that brings it, and an experiment Clearance would carry its hazard class (see Governance). If a second fleet beamline brings a comparable in-situ rig, that is the trigger to consider a sample-environment Family.
Why no new Family here¶
The sample side reuses the catalog throughout: Table for the tower, RotaryStage for the tomographic rotation, and LinearStage for the translations. This is reinforcement, not novelty: HEX's tomography is the same shape the 2-BM pilot and the NSLS-II FXI already speak. The one thing that is genuinely distinct, the 500 kg removable tower, is modelled by reuse with capacity as a setting, and the family decision is deliberately held at n=1 (STAGE-1). Nothing here graduates and the catalog is unchanged.
See Open questions for the sample-side facts still to confirm, Inventory for the Asset tree, Model for the family-reuse rationale, and the source walk for the optics that condition the beam onto the sample.