Basic design of beamline and polarization control

The basic concept of synchrotron radiation beamlines for vacuum ultraviolet and X-ray experiments has been introduced to beginning users and designers of beamlines. The beamline defined here is composed of a front end, pre-mirrors, and a monochromator with refocusing mirrors, which are connected by beam pipes, providing monochromatic light for the experiments. Firstly, time characteristics of the synchrotron radiation are briefly reviewed. Secondly, the basic technology is introduced as the fundamental knowledge required to both users and designers. The topics are photoabsorption by air and solids, front ends and beam pipes, mirrors, monochromators, and filters. Thirdly, the design consideration is described mainly for the designers. The topics are design principle, principle of ray tracing, optical machinery and control, and vacuum. Fourthly, polarization control is considered. The topics are polarizers, polarization diagnosis of beamline, and circularly-polarized light generation. Finally, a brief summary is given introducing some references for further knowledge of the users and the designers.