To date there have been only indirect indications of the presence of bound sodium accumulation in muscle and skin tissues. Despite their osmotic inactivity, such sodium deposits can effect on mechanical properties of the heart muscle impairing its elasticity and leading to serious heart dysfunctions. In this work an accurate study of the chemical composition of the heart muscle tissue at the cellular level was carried out using the methods of X-ray absorption and fluorescence microscopy. The experiments were carried out on a TwinMic X-ray scanning microscope [3] at ELETTRA synchrotron (Italy) with a resolution of about 1 μm. Comparison of the obtained maps of intra- and extracellular sodium distribution in heart tissues of different laboratory animals has resulted in the first experimental confirmation of the hypotheses about the existence of deposited sodium states in the intercellular space. The paper demonstrates an example of the state-of-the-art medical applications of high spectral brilliance X-ray sources.
It was medical applications that stimulated F. Carrol in the early 1990s to start the research of on relativistic Thomson scattering X-ray sources, as a part of the infrastructure of the future society. The possibility to use such a source in interventional cardiology is discussed in this paper. The replacement of X-ray tube by relativistic Thomson scattering Xray source is predicted to lower the patient radiation dose by a factor of 3 while image quality remains the same. The required general characteristics of accelerator and laser units are found. They can be reached by existing technology. A semiempirical method for simulation of medical and technical parameters of interventional coronary angiography systems is suggested.
A new type of a high-brilliance X-ray source known as the Thomson X-ray laser-electron generator (TXG) opens new possibilities for materials characterization by X-ray diffraction methods such as high resolution X-ray diffractometry and topography and diffraction analysis at extreme conditions in shear diamond anvil cells. The advantages of the TXG compared to X-ray laboratory sources are a high flux, a quasi-monochromatic, nearly parallel beam and a tunable wavelength. The paper presents examples of applications as well as estimations of typical photon flux and exposure time saving advantages resulted from an implementation of TXG radiation in a home laboratory.
This paper presents novel approaches and techniques in development and application of multi-mirror X-ray optical
systems operating in the spectral region of "carbon window" (λ ~ 4.5 nm). Two approaches for fabrication of the graded
Co/C multilayer mirrors for Schwarzschild objective are presented. A pair of the spherical mirrors with Co/C multilayer
coatings was tested in combination with scandium/carbon filters and laser produced plasma X-ray source for
stereoimaging of low density materials at λ ~ 4.5 nm.
Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering (RIXS) is the one of the most powerful methods for investigation of the electronic
structure of materials, specifically of excitations in correlated electron systems. However the potential of the RIXS
technique has not been fully exploited because conventional grating spectrometers have not been capable of achieving
the extreme resolving powers that RIXS can utilize. State of the art spectrometers in the soft x-ray energy range achieve
~0.25 eV resolution, compared to the energy scales of soft excitations and superconducting gap openings down to a
few meV. Development of diffraction gratings with super high resolving power is necessary to solve this problem. In
this paper we study the possibilities of fabrication of gratings of resolving power of up to 106 for the 0.5 - 1.5 KeV
energy range. This energy range corresponds to all or most of the useful dipole transitions for elements of interest in
most correlated electronic systems, i.e. oxygen K-edge of relevance to all oxides, the transition metal L2,3 edges, and the
M4,5 edges of the rare earths. Various approaches based on different kinds of diffraction gratings such as deep-etched
multilayer gratings, and multilayer coated echelettes are discussed. We also present simulations of diffraction efficiency
for such gratings, and investigate the necessary fabrication tolerances.
Two samples of the new type of X-ray spectral elements - sliced multilayer grating (SMG) for 4.4-5 nm interval have
been produced and tested. Spectra of A1 discharge plasma were obtained with one of the SMGs. A novel experimental
approach based on a flow proportional counter was introduced and used to measure diffraction efficiency of another
SMG. The properties of the SMG are discussed.
E. Bessonov, M. Gorbunkov, V. Tunkin, R. Fechtchenko, I. Artyukov, Yu. Shabalin, P. Kostryukov, Yu. Maslova, A. Poseryaev, V. Shvedunov, A. Vinogradov, A. Mikhailichenko, B. Ishkhanov
Many practical applications of x-rays lie in the important for the society fields of medical imaging, custom, transport inspection and security. Scientific applications besides of fundamental research include material sciences, biomicroscopy, and protein crystallography. Two types of x-ray sources dominate now: conventional tubes and electron accelerators equipped with insertion devices. The first are relatively cheap, robust, and compact but have low brightness and poorly controlled photon spectrum. The second generate low divergent beams with orders of magnitude higher brightness and well-controlled and tunable spectrum, but are very expensive and large in scale. So accelerator based x-ray sources are mainly still used for scientific applications and x-ray tubes - in commercial equipment. The latter motivated by the importance for the society made an impressive progress during last decades mostly due to the fast developments of radiation detectors, computers and software used for image acquisition and processing. At the same time many important problems cannot be solved without radical improvement of the parameters of the x-ray beam that in commercial devices is still provided by conventional x-ray tubes.
Therefore there is a quest now for a compact and relatively cheap source to generate x-ray beam with parameters and controllability approaching synchrotron radiation. Rapid developments of lasers and particle accelerators resulted in implementation of laser plasma x-ray sources and free electron lasers for various experiments requiring high intensity, shrt duration and monochromatic x-ray radiation. Further progress towards practical application is expected from the combination of laser and particle accelerator in a single unit for efficient x-ray generation.
The paper deals with the recent results of the experiments on soft X-ray imaging of various carbon-containing objects: biological samples, artificial carbon fibres, graphite slices, etc. The working wavelength was chosen to be 4.5 nm due to high penetration ability of these soft X-rays in the carbon materials. The experimental set-up included: laser plasma X-ray source (generated with the 2nd harmonics of Nd:YAG laser), scandium-based thin-film filter and highly reflective spherical multilayer mirror. The Co/C multilayer's reflectivity was measured to be about 15 % at normal incidence that was high enough to produce soft X-ray images using one nanosecond-long exposure. The work demonstrates a possibility to produce high contrast images outside "water window" region for study of relatively thick (tens of microns) samples that may lead to new fields of applications of the soft x-ray microscopy.
M. Gorbunkov, V. Tunkin, E. Bessonov, R. Fechtchenko, I. Artyukov, Yu. Shabalin, P. Kostryukov, Yu. Maslova, A. Poseryaev, V. Shvedunov, A. Vinogradov, A. Mikhailchenko, B. Ishkhanov
Main practical applications of X-rays lie in the important for the society fields of medical imaging, custom, transport inspection and security. Scientific applications besides of fundamental research include material sciences, biomicroscopy, and protein crystallography. Two types of X-ray sources dominate now: conventional tubes and electron accelerators equipped with insertion devices. The first are relatively cheap, robust, and compact but have low brightness and poorly controlled photon spectrum. The second generate low divergent beams with orders of magnitude higher brightness and well-controlled and tunable spectrum, but are very expensive and large in scale. So accelerator based X-ray sources are mainly still used for scientific applications and X-ray tubes--in commercial equipment. The latter motivated by the importance for the society made an impressive progress during last decades mostly due to the fast developments of radiation detectors, computers and software used for image acquisition and processing. At the same time many important problems cannot be solved without radical improvement of the parameters of the X-ray beam that in commercial devices is still provided by conventional X-ray tubes. Therefore there is a quest now for a compact and relatively cheap source to generate X-ray beam with parameters and controllability approaching synchrotron radiation. Rapid developments of lasers and particle accelerators resulted in implementation of laser plasma X-ray sources and free electron lasers for various experiments requiring high intensity, shrt duration and monochromatic X-ray radiation. Further progress towards practical application is expected from the combination of laser and particle accelerator in a single unit for efficient X-ray generation.
Two samples of the new type of X-ray spectral elements--sliced multilayer grating (SMG) for 4.4-5 nm interval based on Co/C multilayer coatings have been produced and tested. A novel experimental approach based on a flow proportional counter was introduced and used to measure diffraction efficiency of SMG gratings. Spectra of Al discharge plasma were obtained with one of the SMGs. The properties of the SMG gratings are discussed.
Wide bandpass multilayer mirrors can be obtained by gradually changing their period. In this paper the theory of such optical elements is developed on a basis of the general theory of wave propagation through layered medium. The results of reflectivity calculation for broadband mirrors are presented. The suggested theory can be used for the solution of inverse problem -- design of multilayers with the required wavelength dependence of reflectivity.
X-ray reflectometry is usually applied for determination of optical constant of materials on the basis of measurements of angular dependent reflectivity. New reflectometry methods based on measurements of either the derivatives with respect to the grazing angle or the ratios of reflection coefficients for two characteristic wavelengths are suggested in present paper. Calculations and measurements indicate that the method suggested makes it possible to enhance the sensitivity of reflectometry and the accuracy of measuring optical constants. Practical implementation of the method is based on the original system of selecting the monochromatic beams with the use of semitransparent crystals. The results of reflectometry studies of GaAs monocrystals and a Ga0.25Si0.75-Si multilayer structure on a Si substrate are reported.
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