Demonstration of multilayer reflective optics at photon energies above 0.6 MeV.

Focusing optics operating in the soft gamma-ray photon energy range can advance a range of scientific and technological applications that benefit from the large improvements in sensitivity and resolution that true imaging provides. An enabling technology to this end is multilayer coatings. We show that very short period multilayer coatings deposited on super-polished substrates operate efficiently above 0.

Sub-nanometer flattening of 45 cm long, 45 actuator x-ray deformable mirror.

We have built a 45 cm long x-ray deformable mirror (XDM) of super-polished single-crystal silicon that has 45 actuators along the tangential axis. After assembly, the surface height error was 19 nm rms. With use of high-precision visible-light metrology and precise control algorithms, we have actuated the XDM and flattened its entire surface to 0.

Physics of reflective optics for the soft gamma-ray photon energy range.

Traditional multilayer reflective optics that have been used in the past for imaging at x-ray photon energies as high as 200 keV are governed by classical wave phenomena. However, their behavior at higher energies is unknown, because of the increasing effect of incoherent scattering and the disagreement between experimental and theoretical optical properties of materials in the hard x-ray and gamma-ray regimes. Here, we demonstrate that multilayer reflective optics can operate efficiently and according to classical wave physics up to photon energies of at least 384 keV.

Multipurpose modular experimental station for the DiProI beamline of Fermi@Elettra free electron laser.

We present a compact modular apparatus with a flexible design that will be operated at the DiProI beamline of the Fermi@Elettra free electron laser (FEL) for performing static and time-resolved coherent diffraction imaging experiments, taking advantage of the full coherence and variable polarization of the short seeded FEL pulses. The apparatus has been assembled and the potential of the experimental setup is demonstrated by commissioning tests with coherent synchrotron radiation. This multipurpose experimental station will be open to general users after installation at the Fermi@Elettra free electron laser in 2011.

Multi-Material Decomposition using Low-Current X-Ray and a Photon-Counting CZT Detector.

We developed and evaluated an x-ray photon-counting imaging system using an energy-resolving cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) detector coupled with application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) readouts. This x-ray imaging system can be used to identify different materials inside the object. The CZT detector has a large active area (5×5 array of 25 CZT modules, each with 16×16 pixels, cover a total area of 200 mm × 200 mm), high stopping efficiency for x-ray photons (~ 100 % at 60 keV and 5 mm thickness).

Predicting the coherent X-ray wavefront focal properties at the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) X-ray free electron laser.

The first X-ray free electron laser (XFEL) at keV energies will be the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), located at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. Scheduled to begin operation in 2009, this first-of-a-kind X-ray source will produce ultra-short X-ray pulses of unprecedented brightness in the 0.8 to 8 keV first harmonic photon energy regime.