A sagittally focusing double-multilayer monochromator for ultrafast X-ray imaging applications

The development of a sagittally focusing double-multilayer monochromator is reported, which produces a spatially extended wide-bandpass X-ray beam from an intense synchrotron bending-magnet source at the Advanced Photon Source, for ultrafast X-ray radiography and tomography applications. This monochromator consists of two W/B₄C multilayers with a 25 Å period coated on Si single-crystal substrates. The second multilayer is mounted on a sagittally focusing bender, which can dynamically change the bending radius of the multilayer in order to condense and focus the beam to various points along the beamline. With this new apparatus, it becomes possible to adjust the X-ray beam size to best match the area detector size and the object size to facilitate more efficient data collection using ultrafast X-ray radiography and tomography.