Effects of beam divergence and polychromaticity on small angle x-ray scattering measurements with laser plasma sources

• Published in: AIP advances Vol. 12; no. 2; pp. 025301 - 025301-9
• Main Authors: Deng, Y. J., Zhang, Y. Y., Cao, Zhurong, Chen, S., Luo, S. N.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Melville American Institute of Physics 01.02.2022; AIP Publishing LLC
• Subjects: Feasibility; Laser plasmas; Lasers; Least squares method; Pinholes; Small angle X ray scattering; X ray sources
• ISSN: 2158-3226; 2158-3226
• DOI: 10.1063/5.0077965

We explore the feasibility of small angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) measurements with intense laser-induced plasma sources. Such x-ray sources are inherently polychromatic and divergent. We simulate SAXS patterns using monochromatic and polychromatic x-ray sources with different divergences of polydisperse particle systems with different size distributions. The beam divergence is adjusted via varying x-ray source size, pinhole size, and the source-to-pinhole distance. Three typical laser plasma He-α sources (Fe, Cu, and Ge) are considered. The scattering curves are analyzed using the modified Guinier approach and the total non-negative least squares method. We demonstrate certain feasibility of SAXS measurements using laser plasma sources with a finite size, without a monochromator and additional software desmearing.