Jie Wang

X-ray speckle tracking based methods can provide results with best reported angular accuracy up to 2 nrad. However, duo to the multi-frame requirement for phase retrieval and the possible instability of the x-ray beam, mechanical and background vibration, the actual accuracy will inevitably be degraded by these time-dependent fluctuations. Therefore, not only spatial position, but also temporal features of the speckle patterns need to be considered in order to maintain the superiority of the speckle-based methods. In this paper, we propose a parallel acquisition method with advantages of real time and high accuracy, which has potential applicability to dynamic samples imaging as well as on-line beam monitoring. Through simulations, we demonstrate that the proposed method can reduce the phase error caused by the fluctuations to 1% at most compared with current speckle tracking methods. Meanwhile, it can keep the accuracy deterioration within 0.03 nrad, making the high theoretical accuracy a reality. Also, we find that waveforms of the incident beam have a little impact on the phase retrieved and will not influence the actual accuracy, which relaxes the requirements for speckle-based experiments.

A speckle-based method for the X-ray crystal diffraction wavefront measurement is implemented, and the slope errors of channel-cut crystals with different surface characteristics are measured. The method uses a speckle scanning technique generated by a scattering membrane translated using a piezo motor to infer the deflection of X-rays from the crystals. The method provides a high angular sensitivity of the channel-cut crystal slopes in both the tangential and sagittal directions. The experimental results show that the slope error of different cutting and etching processes ranges from 0.25 to 2.98 μrad. Furthermore, the results of wavefront deformation are brought into the beamline for simulation. This method opens up possibilities for new high-resolution applications for X-ray crystal diffraction wavefront measurement and provides feedback to crystal manufacturers to improve channel-cut fabrication.

Ultrathin Pd/B₄C multilayers are suitable X-ray mirrors working at the photon energy region of 7–20 keV. To further improve the layer structure, Pd/B₄C multilayers with a d-spacing of 2.5 nm were fabricated by magnetron sputtering using the heavy noble gas Kr and compared with the conventional ones fabricated by Ar. Although the Kr-sputtering process can work at a lower pressure, the interface width—especially the interface roughness—is a little larger than that made by Ar. A stronger polycrystallization and a lower content of sputter gas atoms were found in the Kr-made sample, which can be explained by the joint effect from less recoiled particles and lower sputtering pressure. A good reflectance of 68% of the Kr made multilayer was measured at 10 keV, which is only slightly lower than that of the Ar made sample (71%).

As an important characterization method for beamline optics, at-wavelength metrology technology based on wavefront measurements has been developed for many years. However, the previous studies on at-wavelength metrology of reflective mirrors is limited to the indirect method. So, the accurate surface information of the mirror under test would normally be inaccessible because of lack of experimental deconvolution between the mirror and any backgrounds from upstream optics. In this study, an absolute metrology method is developed based on the speckle scanning technique. Using this method, the surface profile of the mirror can be extracted exactly from the mixed information of the entire upstream beamline. At the same time, data acquisition time can also be significantly reduced by the processing algorithm introduced in this study without sacrificing the angular sensitivity.