title: A laboratory-based hard x-ray monochromator for high-resolution x-ray emission spectroscopy and x-ray absorption near edge structure measurements.
abstract: We report the development of a laboratory-based Rowland-circle monochromator that incorporates a low power x-ray (bremsstrahlung) tube source, a spherically bent crystal analyzer, and an energy-resolving solid-state detector. This relatively inexpensive, introductory level instrument achieves 1-eV energy resolution for photon energies of ∼5 keV to ∼10 keV while also demonstrating a net efficiency previously seen only in laboratory monochromators having much coarser energy resolution. Despite the use of only a compact, air-cooled 10 W x-ray tube, we find count rates for nonresonant x-ray emission spectroscopy comparable to those achieved at monochromatized spectroscopy beamlines at synchrotron light sources. For x-ray absorption near edge structure, the monochromatized flux is small (due to the use of a low-powered x-ray generator) but still useful for routine transmission-mode studies of concentrated samples. These results indicate that upgrading to a standard commercial high-power line-focused x-ray tube or rotating anode x-ray generator would result in monochromatized fluxes of order 10(6)-10(7) photons/s with no loss in energy resolution. This work establishes core technical capabilities for a rejuvenation of laboratory-based hard x-ray spectroscopies that could have special relevance for contemporary research on catalytic or electrical energy storage systems using transition-metal, lanthanide, or noble-metal active species.
authors.affiliation: Physics Department, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195-1560, USA.
authors.forename: G T
authors.initials: GT
authors.lastname: Seidler
authors.affiliation: Physics Department, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195-1560, USA.
authors.forename: D R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Mortensen
authors.affiliation: Physics Department, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195-1560, USA.
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Remesnik
authors.affiliation: Physics Department, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195-1560, USA.
authors.forename: J I
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Pacold
authors.affiliation: Physics Department, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195-1560, USA.
authors.forename: N A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Ball
authors.affiliation: Physics Department, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195-1560, USA.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Barry
authors.affiliation: Physics Department, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195-1560, USA.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Styczinski
authors.affiliation: Physics Department, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195-1560, USA.
authors.forename: O R
authors.initials: OR
authors.lastname: Hoidn