High-Gain Monocapillary Optics

40344 November 12, 1996 ARACOR Glass capillaries, which have been pulled into focusing geometries with narrow exit apertures, have shown substantial gains for the concentration of 1 to 20 keV x rays into sub-micron beams. These optics have been used on both synchrotron and laboratory x-ray instruments. However, the main barrier to their useful deployment has been the lack of a reproducible and well-controlled fabrication technique. This problem will be addressed by building a new furnace for pulling capillaries, which will incorporate novel in-situ metrology sensors to both understand and control the fabrication process. The in-situ sensors will be installed and used to measure the position and shape of the capillaries, during the pulling process, and to characterize the temperature profile of the furnace. The in-situ measurements will then be correlated with dimensional measurements on the fabricated capillaries, and with gain measurements made on the capillaries using synchrotron radiation. Phase I will develop and characterize the metrology techniques. Phase II will use this information to design and implement a process-control scheme to control the fabrication process using real-time feedback from the in-situ metrology sensors. Anticipated Results/Potential Commercial Applications as described by the awardee: High-brightness x-ray beams, in the range of 1 to 10 microns, and below, would have unique analytical capabilities (for composition, thickness and microstructure) and should serve the strategic interests of the semiconductor and other industries for diagnostic x-ray fluorescence and diffraction analysis. The combined synchrotron and laboratory instrument applications of this technology are anticipated to yield substantial sales of capillary optics and instruments.