Soft Matter Interfaces beamline at NSLS-II: geometrical ray-tracing vs. wavefront propagation simulations

We report on the implications of the design of a Soft Matter Interfaces beamline, a long energy range canted in-vacuum undulator (IVU) beamline at National Synchrotron Light Source II, based on comparison of geometrical ray-tracing and partially coherent x-ray wavefront propagation simulation software packages, namely, SHADOW and Synchrotron Radiation Workshop (SRW). For SHADOW, we employed an SRW-generated source file which simulated spectralangular distribution and apparent source characteristics of radiation produced by a 2.8 m long IVU with a 23 mm period and allowed us to realistically estimate the beam intensity at the sample positions. We highlight the necessity to use realistic mirror surface profiles with expected slope errors as opposed to “standard” built-in SHADOW surface error options. The beamline performances at three different x-ray photon energies: 20358 eV, 10778 eV, and 2101 eV, under different focusing conditions, have been studied. We compare beamline simulations performed with both software packages. In particular, we stress that the neglect of wavefront diffraction effects in geometrical ray-tracing approach results in significant discrepancies in beam spot size and beam shape, the correct assessments of which are crucial in determining the future performance of an instrument.