Parametric X-ray radiation as source of pulsed, polarized, monochromatic, tunable X-ray beam

Abstract

The parametric X-ray radiation (PXR) is a new type of monochromatic, polarized, directed, tunable radiation arising in the vicinity of Bragg directions of a crystal when relativistic particles are passing through the crystal. For the last ten years the PXR properties have been intensively investigated experimentally at moderate incident electron current. In this paper we consider main properties of PXR as a new source of a powerful monochromatic X-ray beam, excited by short high-current electron bunch in a single crystal. It is shown, that using a PXR, one can obtain X-ray beam power of about MW/sr during a short period of time at moderate incident electron energy. Experimental setup for generating pulsed PXR beam is suggested, and possibilities for application of pulsed polarized monochromatic X-ray beams are discussed.