Wavelength Dispersing Devices for Soft and Ultrasoft X-ray Spectrometers

Abstract

Spectrographic analysis of light elements by soft and ultrasoft fluorescent x-rays has become a useful technique for many applications of elemental analysis, using single crystals, soap multilayers and a combination of total reflection and filtering.Instead of the wavelength dispersive method based on Bragg reflection which provides high resolution combined with low reflecting intensity, monochromatization combining total reflection by a selected mirror and an appropriate filter offered an alternative approach in order to increase measurable intensity with reasonable spectral resolution.Recently, the use of synthetic multilayers, which are prepared by sputter/evaporation techniques, has been introduced for the detection of soft and ultrasoft x-rays. Studies on the use of these new wavelength dispersing devices have been conducted and it has been found that the reflectivity of these devices is very high compared with single crystals and soap multilayers and that their resolving power is fairly good.