Z. Kristallogr. Proc. 1 (2011) 137-142 / DOI 10.1524/zkpr.2011.0020 137 © by Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, München Technical concept of the materials science beamline at ALBA M. Knapp * , I. Peral, L. Nikitina, M. Quispe, S. Ferrer CELLS-ALBA, Carretera BP 1413, Km. 3.3, E-08290 Cerdanyola (Barcelona), Spain * Contact author; e-mail: mknapp@cells.es Keywords: Synchrotron, powder diffraction, optics, instrumentation, FEA Abstract. The general layout and optical system of the Materials Science and Powder Diffraction Beamline MSPD at the new Spanish Synchrotron source ALBA is described. The beamline will host one end station for high resolution powder diffraction and a second one for high pressure powder diffraction in a shared experimental hutch. The available energy range is between 8 – 50keV. Since the actual light source is a superconducting wiggler with high total power radiated, heat load effects on the optical system have to be considered. FEA calculations addressing this issue are presented. 1. Introduction The 3GeV 3 rd generation Synchrotron Source ALBA near Barcelona is the new national Spanish user facility and is now close to its completion [1, 2]. In its first phase seven beamlines with in total ten experimental stations are installed. One of the beamlines is BL04 MSPD for Materials Science and Powder Diffraction. With its focus on high resolution powder diffraction (HRPD) and high pressure powder diffraction (HPPD) it shall serve the needs of the Spanish user community as well as of users in South West Europe and Northern Africa. Two separate end stations will give a considerable flexibility to cover the scientific requirements. Beside HRPD and HPPD all typical experiments in the field of polycrystalline diffraction as total scattering, strain/stress measurements or time resolved diffraction down to the milliseconds range will be possible. In this paper some calculations and technical details concerning the optics and the general layout of the beamline will be presented. Following the scientific case given in the original BL proposal [3] and its modifications implemented during the design process several technical aspects turned up that had to be addressed in the general layout. Since the focus was on HRPD as well as HPPD, access to high energy X-rays was a central requirement. One of the possibilities to reach the hard X- ray regime at medium energy storage rings is the use of a wiggler based insertion device (ID) as the actual light source. The choice at ALBA fell on a superconducting wiggler with small period length and small K-value [4]. The SCW-30 build at the Budker institute provides an X-ray spectrum with a critical energy at 12.9keV and a radiated power of up to 18.6 kW at maximum K-value and storage ring current. By changing electrical current in the coils of the