Adaptable refractive correctors for X-ray optics
An innovative new type of optical component for X-rays has been developed by a scientific team in the Optics and Metrology Group at Diamond Light Source. This new optical component is designed to correct for the effect of imperfections in the optical elements used for focusing of X-rays. It works by introducing a controlled change to the X-ray’s phase. It is known as an “adaptable refractive corrector” – so called because the corrector uses refraction and can adapt the correction to the unique imperfection of any optical element. The researchers have designed and tested such a component at Diamond obtaining reductions in the effect of the imperfections in a range of mirror and lens focusing optical elements by a factor of up to 7. This development is expected to have application to new developing techniques such as hard X-ray microscopy at the nanometre scale.
>Read more on the Diamond Light Source website
Image: Schematic showing the adaptable corrector with a double mirror system.