Performance of multilayer monochromators for hard X-ray imaging with coherent synchrotron radiation

Abstract

We present a study in which multilayers of different periodicity (from 2.5 to 5.5 nm), composition (W/Si, Mo/Si, Pd/B4C, Ru/B4C), and numbers of layers have been compared. Particularly, we chose mirrors with similar intrinsic quality (roughness and reflectivity) to study their performance (flatness and coherence of the outgoing beam) as monochromators in synchrotron radiography. The results indicate that material composition is the dominating factor for the performance. This is important to consider for future developments in synchrotron-based hard x-ray imaging methods. In these techniques, multilayer monochromators are popular because of their good tradeoff between spectral bandwidth and photon flux density of the outgoing beam, but sufficient homogeneity and preservation of the coherent properties of the reflected beam are major concerns. The experimental results we collected may help scientists and engineers specify multilayer monochromators and can contribute to better exploitation of the advantages of multilayer monochromators in microtomography and other full-field imaging techniques. © 2011 American Institute of Physics.