Study of Ni/AlN/Ni waveguide system for 8.05 keV incident energy

Abstract

Ni/AlN/Ni waveguide system provides intensity enhancement by a factor of ~30 at 8.05 keV photon energy. In the present study, the effect of deviation of structural parameters (thickness of each layer) along with the surface-interface properties on electric field intensity (EFI) inside an ion beam sputter deposited Ni/AlN/Ni waveguide is investigated. EFI calculations are performed using structural parameters obtained from X-ray reflectivity (XRR) measurements performed using Cu-Kα source. Deposited waveguide structure provides intensity enhancement (~26) slightly lower than optimized value (~30). Furthermore, temporal stability of the structure is investigated using combined XRR and grazing incidence X-ray fluorescence (GIXRF) techniques (at 15 keV photon energy) after about 15 months. Some structural changes are observed which, however, do not lead to further decrease in intensity enhancement inside the waveguide, making it suitable for applications at 8.05 keV photon energy.