Diffractive and refractive lenses are widely utilized in high-resolution X-ray microscopy with many applications in biology, energy and materials science. However, both diffractive and refractive X-ray optics suffer from strong chromatic aberration, i.e., they focus different wavelengths at different distances. As a result, many high-resolution X-ray analysis techniques are limited to...
X-ray mirrors are essential for transporting and focusing X-rays in synchrotron radiation beamlines, thanks to their high reflectivity and minimal chromatic aberration. Recent progress in ultra-precise surface finishing and testing techniques [1-3] has enabled the creation of mirrors with accuracies reaching the 1-nm level. This has made it possible to achieve focusing down to 50-30 nm using...
The correction of wavefront aberration [1] and manipulation of X-ray beam shapes [2] by refractive optics provides a toolbox to design and optimize X-ray beams. The foundation for these developments are micro-fabrication techniques like laser ablation and 3D printing in order to create freeform X-ray optics out of diamond or polymer. In combination with at-wavelength metrology methods these...
Synchrotron radiation is known for its stability, brilliance, and coherence, characterized by electron bunches circulating in the storage ring and generating pulsed radiation [1]. However, the MHz frequency range of these bunches often surpasses the temporal resolution required by numerous experiments. Addressing this discrepancy, we introduce a novel method for the temporal modulation of...
Micro and nano-focusing are essential at beamlines at synchrotron light sources and X-ray free electron laser facilities for various X-ray techniques. The focal plane position of an X-ray optical element can be in error due to mispositioning or misalignment of the optical elements or chromatic aberrations in the case of refractive and diffractive optics. Often for in-situ experiments, the...
For the synchrotron radiation community, “SHADOW” refers to a ray tracing program conceived by Franco Cerrina[1], widely used for the simulation of synchrotron radiation beamlines, recently in modern contexts within the OASYS environment [2].
Throughout three generations of synchrotron radiation sources, SHADOW helped in the design and upgrade of many beamlines, contributing to a deeper...
One of the major advantages of the xrt ray tracing and wave propagation package is its precise quantitative representation of the material properties of an optical element. xrt supports various kinds of X-ray optics including reflective (mirrors, capillaries), refractive (lenses), and dispersive (crystals, multilayers, zone plates and gratings). Complex amplitudes of reflectivity or...
