ComIXS on BACH: a compact soft x-ray spectrometer operating at Elettra

Abstract

To accommodate increasing interest in soft x‐ray inelastic scattering, a new spectrometer has been designed, constructed and commissioned at Elettra. This instrument uses as the dispersive element one of two interchangeable Variable Line Spacing (VLS) spherical gratings. The energy scan is performed by a 7 cm linear translation of a back illuminated CCD which also collects the zero order light, facilitating alignment and calibration. The two gratings have the same radius of curvature while the groove densities and the groove density variations differ by a factor four. Thus the energies focused by the gratings at a particular position differ by a factor of four. The total length of the instrument is 60 cm, the energy range covered is roughly 25–1000 eV and the expected resolving power ranges from 1000 to 5000. The spectrometer is now operating on the beamline Bach. It takes advantage of the small size of the photon spot in the experimental chamber and of the possibility to control the polarization of the incoming radiation. The small spot constitutes the virtual entrance slit, and the spectrometer collects the photons emitted in a solid angle of about 30×10 mrad2. The instrument, named ComIXS (Compact Inelastic X‐ray Spectrometer), has been routinely operating since October 2002. Several experiments have already been carried out, and some results illustrating the characteristics of the instrument are described. The manufacture and testing of the blaze gratings are also discussed.