The first infrared beamline at the Middle East SESAME synchrotron facility

SESAME (Synchrotron-light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East) is the only synchrotron light facility in the Middle East and neighboring regions, officially opened in 2017. Among the identification and construction of the first operational beamlines, infrared spectromicroscopy was selected as one of the two beamlines to be opened to the general users' program (the so-called Day-1 beamlines). Being one of the most demanded techniques by various scientific communities in the Middle East, the beamline has been designed and implemented in the framework of a collaboration agreement with the French synchrotron facility, SOLEIL. The design, construction and initial performances of the IR beamline (D02-IR), nowadays operational, are reported.