Abstract
Since early 1970s, when Stern, Lytle and Sayers proposed the analytical method of X-ray absorption spectra, XAFS has been developing year by year both in theories and experimental techniques. Especially the advent of synchrotron radiation in the same years widened the applicability of XAFS to develop new techniques, such as surface XAFS, dispersive XAFS and imaging XAFS, etc. The third generation SR has further improved the XAFS method toward higher spatial, temporal and energy resolutions. It has also opened new routes related to XAFS, such as X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XFS), X-ray Raman scattering (XRS) and anomalous X-ray scattering (AXS). History of XAFS from 1970s to the present is briefly reviewed and the prospect in the future is also addressed.
