An Energy Tunable X-ray Delay Device

When completed, the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) will produce the world¿s most concentrated beams of pulsed X-rays, providing materials researchers with a powerful tool that could revolutionize our understanding of the dynamics of matter. However, to effectively probe ultra-fast dynamic phenomena, a method must be developed to temporally shape incoming X-ray pulses into two pulses with arbitrary relative intensity and time delay. This project will develop a novel, energy-tunable X-ray delay device that employs a precisely-aligned train of crystalline beam splitters and reflectors. These splitters and reflectors will divide an incoming beam, direct the two resultant beams through paths of different lengths, and then recombine the beams in such a way that their respective pulse trains are slightly out of phase. The device¿s innovative design will allow it to be automatically reconfigured for compatibility with the LCLS¿s full spectrum of available X-ray energies. Commercial Applications and other Benefits as described by the awardee:A fully realized X-ray beam splitter would provide a key enabling technology to researchers at the LCLS. In addition, the device¿s highly precise, in-vacuum opto-mechanical systems could be applied to the high-resolution, hard X-ray optical devices required on existing and upcoming 3rd generation storage rings. Other applications include very high resolution monochromators, which are required for the study of inelastic scattering, Mossbauer spectroscopy, and nuclear forward scattering