Recent experiments with liquid gallium cooling of crystal diffraction optics (abstract)a)

The x‐ray beams for the next generation of synchrotrons will contain much more power (1–10 kW) than is available at present day facilities. Cooling the first optical components in these beam lines will require the best cooling technology that one can bring to bear. Argonne continues to pioneer the use of liquid metals as the cooling fluid and has adopted liquid gallium as the liquid metal of choice. Its low melting point, 29.7 °C and its very low vapor pressure make it an easy fluid to handle and its high thermal conductivity and heat capacity make it an excellent cooling fluid. A series of experiments were performed during April 1991 with the wiggler beam at the F2 station of the CHESS facility at Cornell to investigate the cooling of large areas of high power. Two types of cooling crystal geometries were tested, one where the cooling channels were core‐drilled just below the surface of the crystal and a second where slots were cut into the crystal just below the surface with a diamond saw. Both crystals...