A dispersive X-ray absorption spectroscopy instrument has been developed and implemented at the Advanced Photon Source's Advanced Spectroscopy Beamline. The instrument uses a convexly bent Bragg-crystal analyzer to disperse a polychromatic X-ray beam and independent Kirkpatrick–Baez mirrors for focusing, thereby providing a simple and flexible method for acquisition of X-ray absorption spectra, with the absorption at each energy measured simultaneously in a single shot.

The RefXAS database under DAPHNE4NFDI enables users to access quality-controlled, curated X-ray absorption spectra of references along with important metadata and to share their data with the research community in easy steps.

Here, the n = 2 satellite present for manganese-containing materials and across materials science has been successfully observed by applying the new technique of extended-range high-energy-resolution fluorescence detection (XR-HERFD), developed from high-resolution resonant inelastic X-ray scattering and HERFD, and the spectra have been predicted with new advanced theory.