First results from the XMCD facility at the Energy-Dispersive EXAFS beamline of the Indus-2 synchrotron source

Setting up of the X-ray Magnetic Circular Dichroism (XMCD) measurement facility with hard X-rays at the Energy-Dispersive EXAFS beamline (BL-08) at the Indus-2 synchrotron source is reported. This includes the design and development of a water-cooled electromagnet having a highest magnetic field of 2 T in a good field volume of 125 mm³ and having a 10 mm hole throughout for passage of the synchrotron beam. This also includes the development of an (X–Z–θ) motion stage for the heavy electromagnet for aligning its axis and the beam hole along the synchrotron beam direction. Along with the above developments, also reported is the first XMCD signal measured on a thick Gd film in the above set-up which shows good agreement with the reported results. This is the first facility to carry out XMCD measurement with hard X-rays in India.