Construction of a quartz spherical analyzer: application to high-resolution analysis of the Ni Kα emission spectrum

The construction and characterization of a focusing X-ray spherical analyzer based on α-quartz 404 are presented. The performance of the analyzer was demonstrated by applying it to a high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy study of the Kα_1,2 emission spectrum of Ni. An analytical representation based on physical grounds was assumed to model the shape of the X-ray emission lines. Satellite structures assigned to 3d spectator hole transitions were resolved and determined as well as their relative contribution to the emission spectrum. The present results on 1s⁻¹3d⁻¹ shake probabilities support a recently proposed calculation framework based on a multi-configuration atomic model.