Optimizing X-ray mirror thermal performance using matched profile cooling.

To cover a large photon energy range, the length of an X-ray mirror is often longer than the beam footprint length for much of the applicable energy range. To limit thermal deformation of such a water-cooled X-ray mirror, a technique using side cooling with a cooled length shorter than the beam footprint length is proposed. This cooling length can be optimized by using finite-element analysis. For the Kirkpatrick-Baez (KB) mirrors at LCLS-II, the thermal deformation can be reduced by a factor of up to 30, compared with full-length cooling. Furthermore, a second, alternative technique, based on a similar principle is presented: using a long, single-length cooling block on each side of the mirror and adding electric heaters between the cooling blocks and the mirror substrate. The electric heaters consist of a number of cells, located along the mirror length. The total effective length of the electric heater can then be adjusted by choosing which cells to energize, using electric power supplies. The residual height error can be minimized to 0.02 nm RMS by using optimal heater parameters (length and power density). Compared with a case without heaters, this residual height error is reduced by a factor of up to 45. The residual height error in the LCLS-II KB mirrors, due to free-electron laser beam heat load, can be reduced by a factor of ∼11 below the requirement. The proposed techniques are also effective in reducing thermal slope errors and are, therefore, applicable to white beam mirrors in synchrotron radiation beamlines.

Linac Coherent Light Source soft x-ray materials science instrument optical design and monochromator commissioning.

We present the x-ray optical design of the soft x-ray materials science instrument at the Linac Coherent Light Source, consisting of a varied line-spaced grating monochromator and Kirkpatrick-Baez refocusing optics. Results from the commissioning of the monochromator are shown. A resolving power of 3000 was achieved, which is within a factor of two of the design goal.

A beamline for high-pressure studies at the Advanced Light Source with a superconducting bending magnet as the source.

A new facility for high-pressure diffraction and spectroscopy using diamond anvil high-pressure cells has been built at the Advanced Light Source on beamline 12.2.2. This beamline benefits from the hard X-radiation generated by a 6 T superconducting bending magnet (superbend). Useful X-ray flux is available between 5 keV and 35 keV. The radiation is transferred from the superbend to the experimental enclosure by the brightness-preserving optics of the beamline. These optics are comprised of a plane parabola collimating mirror, followed by a Kohzu monochromator vessel with Si(111) crystals (E/DeltaE approximately equal 7000) and W/B4C multilayers (E/DeltaE approximately equal 100), and then a toroidal focusing mirror with variable focusing distance. The experimental enclosure contains an automated beam-positioning system, a set of slits, ion chambers, the sample positioning goniometry and area detector (CCD or image-plate detector). Future developments aim at the installation of a second endstation dedicated to in situ laser heating and a dedicated high-pressure single-crystal station, applying both monochromatic and polychromatic techniques.

Suite of three protein crystallography beamlines with single superconducting bend magnet as the source.

At the Advanced Light Source, three protein crystallography beamlines have been built that use as a source one of the three 6 T single-pole superconducting bending magnets (superbends) that were recently installed in the ring. The use of such single-pole superconducting bend magnets enables the development of a hard X-ray program on a relatively low-energy 1.9 GeV ring without taking up insertion-device straight sections. The source is of relatively low power but, owing to the small electron beam emittance, it has high brightness. X-ray optics are required to preserve the brightness and to match the illumination requirements for protein crystallography. This was achieved by means of a collimating premirror bent to a plane parabola, a double-crystal monochromator followed by a toroidal mirror that focuses in the horizontal direction with a 2:1 demagnification. This optical arrangement partially balances aberrations from the collimating and toroidal mirrors such that a tight focused spot size is achieved. The optical properties of the beamline are an excellent match to those required by the small protein crystals that are typically measured. The design and performance of these new beamlines are described.