High Performance X-Ray Optics

The proposed program will enable the extension of the existing Multilayer X-Ray "optics", from soft X-Rays to the hard X-Ray regime. This will be accomplished through the development of a new deposition process based on sol-gel techniques, which will allow for the deposition of uniform and homogeneous thin films, over large or small surfaces, over flat or odd shaped geometries, with atomically sharp interlayer boundaries, in a low cost process. This is an innovation beyond existing deposition processes which are based on vapor deposition and therefore can not produce atomically sharp boundaries and are difficult to scale up to large odd shaped surfaces. The existing multilayer designs are based on elemental materials of high Z/low Z. We will expand the choice of materials to high Z/low Z compounds. This will allow additional degrees of freedom in optimization of the hard X-Ray optical parameters of choice.