Time-resolved synchrotron x-ray measurements often rely on using a mechanical chopper to isolate a set of x-ray pulses. We have started the development of micro electromechanical systems (MEMS)-based x-ray optics, as an alternate method to manipulate x-ray beams. In the application of x-ray pulse isolation, we recently achieved a pulse-picking time window of half a nanosecond, which is more than 100 times faster than mechanical choppers can achieve. The MEMS device consists of a comb-drive silicon micromirror, designed for efficiently diffracting an x-ray beam during oscillation. The MEMS devices were operated in Bragg geometry and their oscillation was synchronized to x-ray pulses, with a frequency matching subharmonics of the cycling frequency of x-ray pulses. The microscale structure of the silicon mirror in terms of the curvature and the quality of crystallinity ensures a narrow angular spread of the Bragg reflection. With the discussion of factors determining the diffractive time window, this report showed our approaches to narrow down the time window to half a nanosecond. The short diffractive time window will allow us to select single x-ray pulse out of a train of pulses from synchrotron radiation facilities.

Date Published: 23 August 2017
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 10386, Advances in X-Ray/EUV Optics and Components XII, 103860M (23 August 2017); doi: 10.1117/12.2273026

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 10386:
Advances in X-Ray/EUV Optics and Components XII
Christian Morawe; Ali M. Khounsary; Shunji Goto, Editor(s)