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Mirror Furnace for Synchrotron Dark Field X-ray Microscopy Experiments

We present a multi-purpose mirror furnace designed for synchrotron X-ray experiments. The furnace is optimized specifically for dark-field X-ray microscopy (DFXM) of crystalline materials at the beamline ID06 of the ESRF. The furnace can reach up to ~1600°C with stability better than 2°C, and heating and cooling rates up to 30°C/s. The contact-less design enables samples to be heated either in air or in a controlled atmosphere in a capillary tube. The temperature was calibrated via the thermal expansion of an a-iron grain. Temperature profiles in the y and z axes were measured by scanning a thermocouple through the focal spot of the furnace. In the current configuration of the beamline, the furnace can be used for DFXM, near-field X-ray topography, bright field X-ray nanotomography, high resolution reciprocal space mapping, and limited powder diffraction experiments. As a first application, we present a DFXM case study on isothermal heating of a commercially pure Al single crystal.