Beamline X29: a novel undulator source for X-ray crystallography

A high-flux insertion device and beamline for macromolecular crystallography has been built at the National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) that employs a mini-gap undulator source developed by the NSLS. The mini-gap undulator at beamline X29 is a hybrid-magnet device of period 12.5 mm operating at proven gaps of 3.3–10 mm. The beamline provides hard X-rays for macromolecular crystallography experiments from the second and third harmonics over an energy range of 5–15 keV. The X-ray optics is designed to deliver intense and highly collimated X-rays. Horizontal focusing is achieved by a cryogenically cooled sagittally focusing double-crystal monochromator with ∼4.1:1 demagnification. A vertical focusing mirror downstream of the monochromator is used for harmonic rejection and vertical focusing. The experimental station hosts an Area Detector Systems Quantum 315 CCD detector with 2.2 s readout time between exposures and Crystal Logic goniostat for crystal rotation and detector positioning. An auto-mounter crystal changer has been installed to facilitate the high-throughput data collection required by the major users, which includes structural genomics projects and the Macromolecular Crystallography Research Resource mail-in program. X29 is 10³ times brighter than any existing bending-magnet beamline at NSLS with an actual flux of 2.5 × 10¹¹ photons s⁻¹ through a 0.12 mm square aperture at 11.271 keV.