Abstract
A new method of grazing incidence X-ray absorption spectroscopy using an off-specular reflection geometry is presented. Using such an asymmetric setup, with the detector centered at the Yoneda peak, this technique is sensitive to lateral heterogeneities which typically occur at surfaces or interfaces. Oscillations in the spectra above the absorption edges of selected elements enable the atomic short-range order around the X-ray absorbing atom within the surface region to be determined. The data analysis is done in the framework of the distorted wave Born approximation (DWBA).