A dispersive extended-X-ray-absorption-fine-structure (EXAFS) spectrometer based on a polycapillary focusing X-ray lens (PFXRL), a position-sensitive proportional counter and a rotating anode X-ray source is designed. When the working voltage and current of a Mo rotating anode X-ray generator are 25 kV and 100 mA, respectively, it takes 6 h to obtain the EXAFS spectrum of the Cu film. The experiments show that a dispersive EXAFS spectrometer based on a PFXRL can be applied in spatially resolved EXAFS analysis. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.