Analytical Sciences


Abstract − Analytical Sciences, 24(7), 843 (2008).

X-ray Energy Dependence of the Properties of the Focused Beams Produced by Polycapillary X-ray Lens
Akinori MATSUDA,* Yuta NODERA,* Kazuhiko NAKANO,*,** and Kouichi TSUJI*,***
*Department of Applied Chemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka City University, 3-3-138 Sugimoto, Sumiyoshi, Osaka 558-8585, Japan
**JST (Japan Science and Technology Agency) Innovation Plaza Osaka, 3-1-10 Technostage, Izumi, Osaka 594-1144, Japan
***JST-PRESTO (Precursory Research for Embryonic Science and Technology), 4-1-8 Honcho, Kawaguchi, Saitama 332-0012, Japan
We investigated x-ray energy distribution in an x-ray microbeam produced by a polycapillary x-ray lens in combination with a sealed-type x-ray tube. This polycapillary x-ray lens has an output focal distance (OFD) of approximately 15 mm. The size of the x-ray microbeam and its OFD were estimated by using a wire scanning method. In our case, the sizes of the x-ray microbeams at the output focal distance were 49 µm for Mo Lα, 36 µm for W Lα, and 28 µm for Mo Kα. The spot sizes depend on the energy of the x-ray fluorescence. The reason for the energy dependence is that x-ray capillary optics is based on the principle of propagation through glass capillaries by means of x-ray total external reflection. The evaluated OFD values of Mo Lα and Mo Kα were slightly changed in 17 µm. However, a deviation of 100 µm from the OFD caused only a 3% increase of the focal spot size. Therefore, we concluded that the OFD showed no significant dependence on x-ray energy.