Adjustable x-ray phase plate and phase modulator

Abstract

Diffractive birefringence of a crystal in the x-ray region is shown to be adjustable by high-frequency ultrasonic waves (USWs). An increase in diffractive birefringence can be used for fine tuned transformation of linearly polarized synchrotron radiation into circular polarized x rays by a quarter-wave plate. For a stationary USW, x-ray polarization changes with the ultrasound frequency, providing the design parameters for an x-ray phase modulator.

Ultrasound adjustable Laue-Laue double-crystal x-ray monochromator

“…An application of ultrasonic wave (USW) to nearly prefect crystals in combination with x-ray diffraction attracts growing attention due to the possibility, to introduce in a crystal, a periodic deformation variable in a pre-defined reproducible way. This approach is considered promising in application to x-ray diffraction studies of electronic materials [2,3], measurements of weak acoustic fields in acoustooptical devices [4][5][6], construction of synchrotron radiation monochromators [7,8], diffraction modulators [9], quarterwave plates [10] and for control of x-ray beams in time and § Corresponding author.…”