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Computational methods are driving high impact microscopy techniques such as ptychography. However, the design and implementation of new algorithms is often a laborious process, as many parts of the code are written in close-to-the-hardware programming constructs to speed up the reconstruction. In this paper, we present SciComPty, a new ptychography software framework aiming at simulating ptychography datasets and testing state-of-the-art and new reconstruction algorithms. Despite its simplicity, the software leverages GPU accelerated processing through the PyTorch CUDA interface. This is essential to design new methods that can readily be employed. As an example, we present an improved position refinement method based on Adam and a new version of the rPIE algorithm, adapted for partial coherence setups. Results are shown on both synthetic and real datasets. The software is released as open-source.

We report here an experimental setup to perform three-pulse pump-probe measurements over a wide wavelength and temperature range. By combining two pump pulses in the visible (650-900 nm) and mid-IR (5-20 $\mu$m) range, with a broadband supercontinuum white-light probe, our apparatus enables both the combined selective excitation of different material degrees of freedom and a full time-dependent reconstruction of the non-equilibrium dielectric function of the sample. We describe here the optical setup, the cryogenic sample environment and the custom-made acquisition electronics capable of referenced single-pulse detection of broadband spectra at the maximum repetition rate of 50 kHz, achieving a sensitivity of the order of 10$^{-4}$ over an integration time of 1 s. We demonstrate the performance of the setup by reporting data on mid-IR pump, optical push and broadband probe in a single-crystal of Bi$_2$Sr$_2$Y$_{0.08}$Ca$_{0.92}$Cu$_2$O$_{8+\delta}$ across the superconducting and pseudogap phases.

The XAFS beamline at Elettra Synchrotron in Trieste combines X-ray absorption spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction to provide chemically specific structural information of materials. It operates in the energy range 2.4-27 keV by using a silicon double reflection Bragg monochromator. The fluorescence measurement is performed in place of the absorption spectroscopy when the sample transparency is too low for transmission measurements or the element to study is too diluted in the sample. We report on the development and on the preliminary tests of a new prototype detector based on Silicon Drift Detectors technology and the SIRIO ultra low noise front-end ASIC. The new system will be able to reduce drastically the time needed to perform fluorescence measurements, while keeping a short dead time and maintaining an adequate energy resolution to perform spectroscopy. The custom-made silicon sensor and the electronics are designed specifically for the beamline requirements.

An X-ray detector will be presented that is the combination of a segmented ionization chamber featuring one-dimensional spatial resolution integrated with an intelligent ADC front-end, multi DSP processing and embedded PC platform. This detector is optimized to fan beam geometry with an active area of 192 mm (horizontal) and a vertical acceptance of 6 mm. Spatial resolution is obtained by subdividing the anode into readout strips, having pitch of 150 micrometers, which are connected to 20 custom made integrating VLSI chips (each capable of 64-channel read-out and multiplexing) and read out by 14 bits 10 MHz ADCs and fast adaptive PGAs into DSP boards. A bandwidth reaching 3.2Gbit/s of raw data, generated from the real time sampling of the 1280 micro strips, is cascaded processed with FPGA and DSP to allow data compression resulting in several days of uninterrupted acquisition capability. Fast acquisition rates reaching 10 kHz are allowed due to the MicroCAT structure utilized not only as a shielding grid in ionization chamber mode but also to provide active electron amplification in the gas.