Two-dimensional transverse coherence measurement of hard-x-ray beams using near-field speckle

Abstract

Knowledge of the transverse coherence of hard x rays is essential, not only for understanding the source properties, but also to study the impact of x-ray optics. However, the precise measurement of transverse coherence in the x-ray regime is more difficult than in the visible light regime since it often involves complex experimental setups or sophisticated x-ray optics. In this paper, we present a model-free method to measure transverse coherence properties of x-ray beams by using a simple phase membrane. Our method allows one to map the two-dimensional source distribution in the transverse plane by analyzing the power spectrum of x-ray near-field speckle patterns, which are collected at a single distance only. The method has been validated by performing measurements for a range of source sizes, which was achieved by varying the vertical coupling of the electron beam in the Diamond storage ring. We expect that this method will be widely used in transverse coherence measurements for both synchrotron sources and x-ray free-electron lasers.