Highly efficient soft X-ray spectrometer based on a reflection zone plate for resonant inelastic X-ray scattering measurements

Abstract

Abstract:We present a newly designed compact and flexible soft X-ray spectrometer for resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS) studies within an energy range from 380 eV to 410 eV, which would include the K alpha emission lines of vital elements like nitrogen. We utilized an off-axis reflection zone plate (RZP) as the wavelength selective element with a maximum line density of 10000 l/mm. A higher energy resolution over a broader range of ± 15 eV around the designed energy was achieved by displacing the RZP. Additionally, for the first time, an actual optical side effect, the so-called comatic aberration was exploited to increase the energy resolution. First results show a resolving power in the order of 1300 for photon energy of 395 eV, which is comparable to a commercial varied line spacing grating (VLS). Assoufid, and A. Erko, "Hard x-ray spectroscopy and imaging by a reflection zone plate in the presence of astigmatism," Opt. Lett. 41(1), 29-32 (2016). 30. R. Mitzner,

Development of Ultrafast X-ray Free Electron Laser Tools in (Bio)Chemical Research

“…The current examples emphasize, however, that the real world, functional materials, pharmaceuticals, catalysts or energy converting materials are not always crystalline and far from being periodically ideally arranged as it could look like when performing model type of investigations. If the intrinsic spatial resolution of the system does not allow for such detailed investigations, a combination of ultrafast X-ray spectroscopy and ultrafast X-ray diffraction or scattering as the "local to global approach" deliver configuration and charge information of the molecules studied [60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70][71][72][73][74][75][76]. This approach will be described in the following chapter.…”

“…As ultrafast X-ray spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction can "shake their hands" in Xray Free-electron laser science, they open up new ways to study complex chemical reactions. X-ray diffraction [17-59] and X-ray spectroscopy [60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70][71][72][73][74][75][76] are complementary techniques. X-ray spectroscopy allows probing the electronic properties in an element-, orbital-and site-specific way, for example bonding or oxidation state changes [63].…”

“…The first example is a time-resolved X-ray diffraction measurement on silverbehenate [60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70][71][72][73][74][75][76] with an outlook towards combination of the liquid jet with X-ray spectroscopy, the second example is a femtosecond time-resolved X-ray spectroscopy experiment on iron-pentacarbonyl (Fe(CO) 5 ) [78][79][80][81]. Figure 17.10a shows the apparatus which has been developed for such experiments at FELs.…”

“…Starting from this introduction as a comprehensive summary of the basic principles, in the following, various FEL methods developed so far will be summarised, including the concept of filming chemical reactions in real time utilizing ultrafast high-flux X-ray sources [11][12][13][14][15][16], X-ray Diffraction and Crystallography for Condensed State Chemistry Studies-Crystallography with Ultrahigh Temporal and Ultrahigh Spatial Resolution [14, and Applications in organic electronics and energy research [14,[53][54][55][56][57][58][59]; from From Local to Global: Ultrafast Multidimensional Soft X-ray Spectroscopy and Ultrafast X-ray Diffraction Shake Their Hands [60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70][71][72][73][74][75][76] and Applications in Bimolecular Reaction Studies and Photocatalysis [77][78][79][80] to Applications in Unimolecular Liquid Phase Reaction Dynamics [81][82][83][84][85][86][87][88]…”

“…Fig. 17.9References[60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70][71][72][73][74][75][76]: Principle of various types of pump-probe experiments applied to the optical region (left) and the corresponding type of experiments in the X-ray region (right). An optical laser pump initiates a chemical reaction and an optical (left) or X-ray laser pulse (right) probes the proceeding reaction pathways.…”