Thin crystal development and applications for hard x-ray free-electron lasers

We have developed a new method to fabricate ultrathin silicon single crystals, which can be used as spectral beam splitters for the hard x-ray regime, based on a reactive dry etching process using plasma at atmospheric pressure. The high crystalline perfection of the crystals was verified by both topographic and high-resolution rocking curve measurements using coherent x-rays at the 1-km-long beamline, BL29XUL of SPring-8. The development of thin crystals enables the construction of a split-delay unit and the provision of a dedicated branch for photon diagnostics. By using a 20-μm-thick Si(111) crystal in the symmetric Bragg geometry as a component of a Si(111) double-crystal monochromator, an arrival-time monitor using a destructive manner has been upgraded to a non-destructive method at SPring-8 Angstrom Compact free-electron LAser. Using the splitting crystals in a helium atmosphere can prevent oxidation, which can introduce a lattice distortion.

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