NanoimagesX

NANOIMAGESX, selected for funding in the 2^nd call for proposals of the EQUIPEX (Équipements d’excellence, Equipment of excellence) program of the French government, is a project that has allowed Synchrotron SOLEIL, seconded by 16 partners from public research and industry, to design, build and put into operation a beamline dedicated to micro- and nanotomography and full-field microscopy of matter in native conditions. By supplying intense, highly coherent X ray beams in the photon energy range from 5 to 50 keV, this beamline, named ANATOMIX (Advanced Nano-Tomography and Imaging with Coherent X Rays), is unique in respect of sensitivity and resolution.

Operational since 2018, ANATOMIX is a complement to other European synchrotron tomography facilities, as well as to the existing imaging facilities and those under construction at SOLEIL. With the experimental facilities at this beamline, it is possible to obtain both 2D and 3D images without destroying the samples, including in zones that would normally remain hidden when using conventional techniques because of a lack of contrast. ANATOMIX is of particular interest to users in the fields of complex and advanced materials science, and biomedical sciences.

Two advanced 3D imaging stations

Two experimental stations for micro- and nanotomography set up in the ANATOMIX line provide a variety of advanced imaging modalities and provide users with optimal conditions for the acquisition and visualisation of the volume data of complex three-dimensional objects or systems.

For technical details and example results, please visit the ANATOMIX beamline page.

A wide field of applications

Applications range from biological systems and biomedical research (biomineralization; osteoarthritis, bone and cartilage; brain tissue and neurodegenerative diseases; nanomedicine and drug delivery...) over energy and energy storage (geomaterials; batteries and electrochemical processes) to advanced hierarchical materials used in the automotive and aerospace industries (fiber-charged polymer composites, machining processes for novel materials etc.).

Science of excellence, open science

By supporting multidisciplinary projects, SOLEIL’s ANATOMIX beamline enables common developments essential for image processing and integration of multi-modal data measured at different length scales. Just as SOLEIL’s other beamlines, ANATOMIX is open to all interested research groups from academia, government laboratories and private R&D actors via the usual access paths at SOLEIL.

A multi-disciplinary community

Industrial Partners:

RENAULT Technocentre, Guyancourt (78), France

Institut de Recherche Servier, Croissy-sur-Seine (78), France

Academic and Public Partners:

IFP Energies Nouvelles (IFPEN), Rueil-Malmaison (92), France

Laboratoire Physicochimie des Electrolytes et Nanosystèmes interfaciaux (PHENIX), UMR 8234, Paris (75), France

International Joint Unit “Multi-Scale Materials Science for Energy and Environment” (MSE), UMI CNRS-MIT, Paris (75), France, and Cambridge (MA), USA

Institut des Science de la Terre d’Orléans (ISTO), UMR 7327, Orléans (45), France

Institut Pprime, UPR 3346, Futuroscope (86), France

Laboratoire Navier, UMR 8205, Marne-la-Vallée (77), France

Observatoire Terre et Environnement de Lorraine (OTELo), UMS 3562, Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy (54), France

Ingénierie Moléculaire et Physiopathologie Articulaire (IMOPA), UMR 7365, Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy (54), France

Imagerie Multimodale Multiéchelle et Modélisation du Tissu Osseux et Articulaire (I3MTO), Orléans (45), France

Bioingénierie tissulaire (BioTis), U1026, Bordeaux (33), France

Biomécanique et Biomatériaux Ostéo-Articulaires (B2OA), UMR 7052, Paris (75), France

Institut de Mécanique des Fluides de Toulouse (IMFT), UMR 5502, Toulouse (31), France

Laboratoire d’Intégration des Systèmes et des Technologies (LIST), CEA Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette (91), France

Biomaterials Science Center (BMC), University of Basel, Allschwil BL, Switzerland

Synchrotron SOLEIL, Gif-sur-Yvette (91), France