Broad Band Hard X-Ray Receiver for Interactive Discrimination

Reflection of high energy X-rays from multilayer coatings raises the possibility of building a focussing hard X-ray telescope for interactive discrimination by X-ray spectroscopy. The objective of this project is to evaluate the feasibility of using graded period multilayer coatings to build a broad band hard X-ray concentrator. An optimal multilayer coating design will be generated. A graded multilayer will be procured and its hard X-ray reflection characteristics will be evaluated. Because most hard X-ray sources produce continuous spectra, a broad band hard X-ray reflector can produce a net gain in X-ray energy per unit area. Thus, broad band reflectors should be useful as hard X-ray concentrators in synchrotron radiation instrumentation, medical technology, and perhaps, NDE and security instrumentation.