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arXiv · 2310.10128

A modular table-top setup for ultrafast X-ray diffraction

Abstract

We present a table-top setup for femtosecond time-resolved X-ray diffraction based on a Cu K{\alpha} (8.05 keV) laser driven plasma X-ray source. Due to its modular design it provides high accessibility to its individual components (e.g. X-ray optics and sample environment). The K{\alpha}-yield of the source is optimized using a pre-pulse scheme. A magnifying multilayer X-ray mirror with Montel-Helios geometry is used to collect the emitted radiation, resulting in a quasi-collimated flux of more than 105 Cu K{\alpha} photons/pulse impinging on the sample under investigation at a repetition rate of 10 Hz. A gas ionization chamber detector is placed right after the X-ray mirror and used for normalization of the diffraction signals enabling the measurement of relative signal changes of less than 1% even at the given low repetition rate. Time-resolved diffraction experiments on laser-excited epitaxial Bi films serve as an example to demonstrate the capabilities of the set-up. The set-up can also be used for Debye-Scherrer type measurements on poly-crystalline samples.

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Wei Lu, Matthieu Nicoul, Uladzimir Shymanovich, Alexander Tarasevitch, Michael Horn-von Hoegen, Dietrich von der Linde, Klaus Sokolowski-Tinten. 2023-10-16. A modular table-top setup for ultrafast X-ray diffraction. https://arxiv.org/abs/2310.10128

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