In general branching beamlines can be grouped into two general categories: The angled version and the parallel version. 

The angled version shoots off at an angle to the original beam direction. This is most often done by the use of a crystal in Laue geometry. As an example, we have employed the angled principle in 4 side stations at MAXLab intended for SAD investigations of protein crystals. Here, we used a combination of bent crystals and bent multilayers to achieve 2D-focusing. 

The parallel version has a more complex geometry in that the final beam travels in the same direction as the original optic. At least two optics are required in this geometry: One to diffract the beam away from the main beam and the other to reflect the diffracted beam back parallel with the original beam. To draw full advantage of a large accessible energy of the beam in this setup, requires a long translation of the second crystal as it is moved to intercept the monochromatic beam from the fist crystal at different angles. The control of the angular deviations along this translation is probably the most crucial element of the setup.

JJ X-Ray constructed such a system for 11-54 keV Petra-I beamline at Hasylab, where we integrated the Laue monochromator with a set of cylindrical water-cooled absorber slits.