Abstract
The ability to deliver two coherent X-ray pulses with precise time-delays ranging from a few femtoseconds to nanoseconds enables critical capabilities of probing ultra-fast phenomena in condensed matter systems at X-ray free electron laser (FEL) sources. Recent progress made in the hard X-ray split-and-delay optics developments now brings a very promising prospect for resolving atomic-scale motions that were not accessible by previous time-resolved techniques. Here, we report on characterizing the spatial and temporal coherence properties of the hard X-ray FEL beam after propagating through split-and-delay optics. Speckle contrast analysis of small-angle scattering measurements from nanoparticles reveals well-preserved transverse coherence of the beam. Measuring intensity fluctuations from successive X-ray pulses also reveals that only single or double temporal modes remain in the transmitted beam, corresponding to nearly Fourier transform limited pulses.
Highlights
The ability to deliver two coherent X-ray pulses with precise time-delays ranging from a few femtoseconds to nanoseconds enables critical capabilities of probing ultra-fast phenomena in condensed matter systems at X-ray free electron laser (FEL) sources
The most prominent time-resolved techniques used at the storage rings such as optical laser pump and X-ray probe[6,7,8,9] methods or X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy (XPCS)[10] have in the meantime been recently demonstrated at the FEL sources[11,12,13,14]
The optical path for one of the split pulses is defined by the Bragg crystals, denoted subsequently R1, R2 and R3
Summary
The ability to deliver two coherent X-ray pulses with precise time-delays ranging from a few femtoseconds to nanoseconds enables critical capabilities of probing ultra-fast phenomena in condensed matter systems at X-ray free electron laser (FEL) sources. The pump-probe approach has benefitted greatly from using femtosecond X-ray pulse duration provided at FEL facilities complemented by state of the art timing synchronisation schemes between optical laser and X-ray pulses[15,16]. These capabilities have enabled elaborate pump-probe[17,18,19] and single-shot coherent imaging experiments[20,21].
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