No Arabic abstract
The resolution function of a spectrometer based on a strongly bent single crystal (bending radius of 10 cm or less) is evaluated. It is shown that the resolution is controlled by two parameters, (i) the ratio of the lattice spacing of the chosen reflection to the crystal thickness and (ii) a single parameter comprising crystal thickness, its bending radius, and anisotropic elastic constants of the chosen crystal. Diamond, due to its unique elastic properties, can provide notably higher resolution than silicon. The results allow to optimize the parameters of bent crystal spectrometers for the hard X-ray free electron laser sources.
We demonstrate that vacuum forming of 10-cm diameter silicon wafers of various crystallographic orientations under an x-ray permeable, flexible window can easily generate spherically bent crystal analyzers (SBCA) and toroidally bent crystal analyzers (TBCA) with ~1-eV energy resolution and a 1-m major radius of curvature. In applications at synchrotron light sources, x-ray free electron lasers, and laboratory spectrometers these characteristics are generally sufficient for many x-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS), x-ray emission spectroscopy (XES), and resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) applications in the chemical sciences. Unlike existing optics manufacturing methods using epoxy or anodic bonding, vacuum forming without adhesive is temporary in the sense that the bent wafer can be removed when vacuum is released and exchanged for a different orientation wafer. Therefore, the combination of an x-ray compatible vacuum-forming chamber, a library of thin wafers, and a small number of forms having different secondary curvatures can give extreme flexibility in spectrometer energy range. As proof of this method we determine the energy resolution and reflectivity for several such vacuum-formed bent crystal analyzers (VF-BCA) in laboratory based XAFS and XES studies using a conventional x-ray tube. For completeness we also show x-ray images collected on the detector plane to characterize the resulting focal spots and optical aberrations.
The fluctuations of the longitudinal coherence length expected from the worlds first hard X-ray Free Electron Laser, the Linac Coherent Light Source, are investigated. We analyze, on a shot-to-shot basis, series of power spectra generated from 1D-FEL simulations. We evaluate how the intrinsic noise in the spectral profile of the X-ray beam reflects on its longitudinal coherence length. We show that the spectral stability of the LCLS beam will allow coherent X-ray experiments with a reasonable acquisition time. We also propose a scheme to deliver single-mode X-ray radiation using a narrow bandpass monochromator.
We present a cylindrically curved GaAs x-ray spectrometer with energy resolution $Delta E/E = 1.1cdot 10^{-4}$ and wave-number resolution of $Delta k/k = 3cdot 10^{-3}$, allowing plasmon scattering at the resolution limits of the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) x-ray free-electron laser. It spans scattering wavenumbers of 3.6 to $5.2/$AA in 100 separate bins, with only 0.34% wavenumber blurring. The dispersion of 0.418~eV/$13.5,mu$m agrees with predictions within 1.3%. The reflection homogeneity over the entire wavenumber range was measured and used to normalize the amplitude of scattering spectra. The proposed spectrometer is superior to a mosaic HAPG spectrometer when the energy resolution needs to be comparable to the LCLS seeded bandwidth of 1~eV and a significant range of wavenumbers must be covered in one exposure.
An X-ray free-electron laser oscillator (XFELO) is a new type of hard X-ray source that would produce fully coherent pulses with meV bandwidth and stable intensity. The XFELO complements existing sources based on self-amplified spontaneous emission (SASE) from high-gain X-ray free-electron lasers (XFEL) that produce ultra-short pulses with broad-band chaotic spectra. This report is based on discussions of scientific opportunities enabled by an XFELO during a workshop held at SLAC on June 29 - July 1, 2016
Resonant elastic X-ray scattering has been widely employed for exploring complex electronic ordering phenomena, like charge, spin, and orbital order, in particular in strongly correlated electronic systems. In addition, recent developments of pump-probe X-ray scattering allow us to expand the investigation of the temporal dynamics of such orders. Here, we introduce a new time-resolved Resonant Soft X-ray Scattering (tr-RSXS) endstation developed at the Pohang Accelerator Laboratory X-ray Free Electron Laser (PAL-XFEL). This endstation has an optical laser (wavelength of 800 nm plus harmonics) as the pump source. Based on the commissioning results, the tr-RSXS at PAL-XFEL can deliver a soft X-ray probe (400-1300 eV) with a time resolution about ~100 fs without jitter correction. As an example, the temporal dynamics of a charge density wave on a high-temperature cuprate superconductor is demonstrated.