BOF (bit of physics):: An achromatic X-ray lens

Very interesting, thanks Joerg.

So slick that at these wavelengths, you can make refractive optics out of.... plastic. (acrylic?). What a deal. Must be cheaper than those at the "other end ", IR... (diamond-like carbon coated germanium). cheers, RS

Very interesting , Jan, Thanks!

So slick that at these wavelengths, you can make refractive optics out of... plastic. (acrylic?). Must be much cheaper than those at the "other end", IR. (diamond-like carbon coated Germanium). cheers, RS

This is a niche application, however; it presumes a beam of broad-spectrum X-rays, of sufficient intensity to be useful at imaging.

So, there's a relativistic synchro-cyclotron taking up an acre next to the tiny little lens. Also, it isn't the X-ray laser that's being used for illumination, because that's presumably not polychromatic enough to matter, but a plain old wiggler. The resolution claimed is about on par with visible-light microscopes.

The PSI synchrotron light source has experiments installed in multiple stations all around it. This was just one of them. Synchrotron light is useful for lots of things in material science, biology, chemistry, pure physics, et j'en passe.

Lots of countries want their own. I remember there was some competition on the European level whether to finance either the British Diamond light source, or the French Soleil. In the end, both got built. And France has another near Grenoble. They must be good for something...

Jeroen Belleman