Harding E C, Ao T, Bailey J E, Loisel G, Sinars D B, Geissel M, Rochau G A, Smith I C
Sandia National Laboratory, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87185, USA.
Rev Sci Instrum. 2015 Apr;86(4):043504. doi: 10.1063/1.4918619.
The application of a space-resolving spectrometer to X-ray Thomson Scattering (XRTS) experiments has the potential to advance the study of warm dense matter. This has motivated the design of a spherical crystal spectrometer, which is a doubly focusing geometry with an overall high sensitivity and the capability of providing high-resolution, space-resolved spectra. A detailed analysis of the image fluence and crystal throughput in this geometry is carried out and analytical estimates of these quantities are presented. This analysis informed the design of a new spectrometer intended for future XRTS experiments on the Z-machine. The new spectrometer collects 6 keV x-rays with a spherically bent Ge (422) crystal and focuses the collected x-rays onto the Rowland circle. The spectrometer was built and then tested with a foam target. The resulting high-quality spectra prove that a spherical spectrometer is a viable diagnostic for XRTS experiments.
