Effect of x-ray beamline optics on x-ray photon correlation spectroscopy experiments

Abstract

We have evaluated the applicability of vertically-focusing kinoform lenses for tailoring the vertical coherence length of storage-ring undulator x-ray beams so that the entirety of the coherent flux can be used for small angle multi-speckle x-ray photon correlation spectroscopy (XPCS) experiments. We find that the focused beam produced by a kinoform lens preserves the coherence of the incident unfocused beam and that at an appropriate distance downstream of the focus, the diverging beam produces speckles nearly identical to those produced by an equivalently-sized unfocused beam. We have also investigated the effect of imperfect beamline optics on the observed coherence properties of the beam. Via phase contrast imaging and beam-divergence measurements, we find that a horizontally-deflecting mirror in our beamline precludes us from seeing the true radiation source point but instead acts as an apparent source of fixed size at the center of our insertion device straight section. Finally, we discuss how expected near-future optimization of these optics will greatly benefit XPCS measurements performed at beamline 8-ID-I at the Advanced Photon Source.