Monolithic two-dimensional beam compressor for hard x-ray beams

Using asymmetric diffraction in grazing incidence or in grazing emergence it is possible to expand or compress an x-ray beam in one dimension. Combining two asymmetric diffractions with non-coplanar planes of diffraction it is possible to obtain two-dimensional beam expansion or compression. This paper reports on a monolithic two-dimensional x-ray beam compressor consisting of two non-coplanar asymmetrically inclined {311} diffractors prepared in one silicon crystal block and tested at Optics beamline BM05 at ESRF, Grenoble. The design of the x-ray beam compressor, the results of beam tracing image simulation, the experimental arrangement used for testing and the properties of the x-ray microbeams formed are presented. For the beam energy of 9.5 keV 10- and 13-times beam compression in two directions was observed. Using a metal grid in the incident beam more than 400 microbeams smaller than 10 ?m and separated by less than 5 ?m were obtained in the outgoing beam. A gain of up to 100 times in intensity per unit area was obtained in comparison with the x-ray beam magnifier geometry, demonstrating a real two-dimensional beam compression. © 2005 IOP Publishing Ltd.