Planar Retro-Reflector for Grazing Incident Beam of High-Energy X-Ray Photons

Abstract

The grazing-incidence hard X-ray retro-reflector (GIRR) is a novel optical element, which completely suppresses the conventional mirror beam in the retro-reflection mode, and, at the same time, totally reflects the primary grazing incident X-radiation backwards to its source in strictly anti-parallel direction with minimal scattering. The GIRR is a good alternative to hard X-ray normal-incidence Bragg mirror, and has a high potential for applications in various X-ray optical devices and techniques, such as, hard X-ray optical noise (or background) filters, high-quality hard X-ray waveguides, low-gain hard X-ray free electron laser resonators (XFELRs), X-ray holography, coherent X-ray diffraction imaging, phase-contrast imaging, as well as in hard X-ray optical data storage devices and deep space hard X-ray communications. The proposed optical element consists of single-crystal wafer covered by a thin, non-diffracting layer of low-absorbing material.