Single shot near edge x-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy in the laboratory

Abstract

With the help of adapted off-axis reflection zone plates, near edge X-ray absorption fine structure spectra at the C and N K-absorption edge have been recorded using a single 1.2 ns long soft X-ray pulse. The transmission experiments were performed with a laser-produced plasma source in the laboratory rendering time resolved measurements feasible independent on large scale facilities. A resolving power of E/ΔE ∼ 950 at the respective edges could be demonstrated. A comparison of single shot spectra with those collected with longer measuring time proves that all features of the used reference samples (silicon nitrate and polyimide) can be resolved in 1.2 ns. Hence, investigations of radiation sensitive biological specimen become possible due to the high efficiency of the optical elements enabling low dose experiments.

In-house setup for laboratory-based x-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy measurements

“…[12][13][14][15] Despite the fact that interest in laboratory-based XAFS faded with the advent of thirdgeneration SR sources, the development of laboratory-based XAFS instrumentation continued steadily, [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26] with a rapid increase in in-house XAFS applications in the last few years. [27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36] The XAFS spectrum of a sample can be measured by means of the transmission, fluorescence, or electron yield method. 37,38 In the transmission method, the energy of the incident beam is varied step by step and its intensity as well as the intensity of the transmitted beam are measured by ionization chambers or photodiodes.…”

Laboratory-scale near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy with a laser-induced plasma source

“…Although, there has been considerable progress in the development of laboratoryscale so X-ray sources, such as laser-or discharge-produced plasmas [2][3][4][5][6][7][8] and high-order harmonics (HHG), 9-12 these sources have been employed for NEXAFS spectroscopy only a few times until now. [13][14][15][16][17][18][19] In addition, except for previous own work including pump-probe experiments 20 and investigations with samples at atmospheric pressure, 21 all these measurements were restricted to photon energies below 500 eV. Recently, Popmintchev et al 22 demonstrated NEXAFS investigations at the Kand L-absorption edges of solids in the near-keV range using a HHG source, ideally suited for dynamic probing of materials on an attosecond time scale.…”

Single-Shot near Edge X-ray Fine Structure (NEXAFS) Spectroscopy Using a Laboratory Laser-Plasma Light Source

“…To overcome this limitation, a single pulse (single-shot) has to be used for NEXAFS spectrum acquisition. A single-shot NEXAFS has been demonstrated recently using a laser plasma light source based on a solid target [ 19 ]. However, solid targets that are known to produce debris associated with laser ablation products, which is a highly undesirable effect.…”