Patent Application
20130108023
Not applicable
Not applicable
The high power associated with the x-ray beams generated by the third generation synchrotron radiation facilities has created new challenges in the design of the beamline components that intercept the x-ray beams. The challenge is especially critical in the design of the monochromators, which must provide acceptable performance under the thermal load of the x-ray beams. Research activities in the development of monochromators for more stable and less complicated beamlines have led to examination of many aspects of the monochromators' design.
Described herein is the design and features of a new monochromator that has only one moving part inside the chamber, and a preliminary study of the design is provided as well as characterization aspects of a diamond crystal.
The overall philosophy of the design is to keep to a minimum the number of essential motions of the crystals. This minimizes the opportunities for instabilities, vibrations and drift. Crystal translation axes are therefore avoided altogether by using a small offset of just 2 mm between the parallel crystal faces. The resulting beam offset is below 4 mm (for symmetric reflections) and this varies by a fraction of a millimeter over the entire energy range, typically 6 to 15 keV. This variation is not normally noticeable in an experiment.
The only motion necessary to be placed in-vacuum is a single crystal tilt. Because of the small offset, it is unnecessary to use independent tilts (“chi”) on both crystals. The primary drive motions for both crystals are passed through the vacuum wall via differentially pumped seals. The novel use of coaxial drives means that it is the differential theta motion that is controlled (“delta-theta”).
Energy is scanned by a single motor so the crystal pair moves as a channel cut. This leads to very stable tracking of the energy over wide ranges as we describe in this paper. The use of a delta-theta configuration with a narrow range also means it can be heavily geared down for fine adjustment. This also avoids the problem of crashing the crystals when the offset is so small.
The invention as described herein with references to subsequent drawings, contains similar reference characters intended to designate like elements throughout the depictions and several views of the depictions. It is understood that in some cases, various aspects and views of the invention may be exaggerated or blown up (enlarged) in order to facilitate a common understanding of the invention and its associated parts.
Provided herein is a detailed description of one embodiment of the invention. Therefore, specific details enclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but rather as a basis for the claims and as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to employ the present invention in virtually any appropriately detailed system, structure, or manner.
The design was created using parametric solid models as shown in
The main structural component of the monochromator is the Huber 420 rotator, mounted vertically as shown in
When its motor 9 is run, a screw jack 8 is operated which moves a roller assembly up and down. This roller assembly bears against the angled side of the long free arm 10, which, with the short free arm 11, forms a clamp around the first crystal spool. The first crystal spool rotates on bearings inside the common rotator 12. When the rollers run down, the first crystal rotates and the angle of reflection decreases. When the rollers run up, springs which link the fixed screw jack 8 and motor mounting bracket to the long free arm 11, cause opposite rotation, thus the incident angle increases.
The components of the monochromator includes a first crystal holder, a second crystal holder, a Compton shield, a feedthrough flange 6, tank, fixed horizontal entrance aperture, Motorized 20 mm vertical height adjustment of the entire monochromator/tank/pump assembly (stand) 13, and Gravity Feed Cooling System.
The first crystal holder is a copper block excavated under the crystal and cooled by a continuous water tube starting and ending outside the vacuum. This tube features sections with wave-like bends to accommodate rotation of the crystal holder relative to the tubing entrance/exit flange.
The second crystal holder tilts ±5° by being attached to a small vacuum-compatible tilt stage driven by an arrangement of miniature gears, shafts and couplings connected to a motorized feedthrough. A short manual horizontal adjustment is also incorporated. Both holders incorporate a matrix of very small tapped holes for attachment of the crystals.
The Compton shield is attached to the second crystal holder to absorb parasitic radiation emitted from the first crystal. It is cooled by a tube virtually identical to that on the first crystal holder. Because of the very small area through which these tubes must pass, and their proximity to each other, the four wave-like areas mentioned above are staggered so they can nest together without interference.
The feedthrough flange 6 incorporates numerous ports for electrical connections and the second crystal tilt motor, and holes for passage of the four water cooling tubing ends. The tank surrounds the crystal holders and has vacuum flanges for connecting to the monochromator body, the pump; beam in and out, viewport and utility. Its mounting feet incorporate T-slots with set screws for small manual position adjustment.
The fixed horizontal entrance aperture protects the crystal holders from mis-steered beam. It is made from Glidcop explosion-bonded to stainless steel and contains water-cooling channels and fittings.
The motorized 20 mm vertical height adjustment of the entire monochromator/tank/pump assembly is a welded three-legged stand 13 made from four-inch square tubing. On top of this are three screw jacks driven by a single stepper motor via a driveshaft and gearbox. These jacks support an aluminum plate with a large round cutout for pump attachment. To this plate are attached the tank and a length of rail on which the body of the monochromator slides for easy removal from the tank.
The gravity feed cooling system is put in place in order to reduce vibrations of the crystals induced by the cooling water flow by constructing a low pressure closed loop system. Water is stored in a 40 1 stainless steel tank approximately 1.5 m above the monochromator and is gravity fed through separate lines for each of the two crystals. The water is collected in a large polypropylene tank beneath the monochromator and a sump pump periodically returns the water to the steel storage tank.
The completed monochromator was tested in hutch 34-ID-B, providing a monochromatic beam that was monitored with an ion chamber in hutch 34-ID-C. Synthetic Diamond (111) crystals (Sumitomo) of approximate dimension 9×5×0.5 mm were attached to the copper mounting blocks. Two #2-56 screws held tantalum straps across each end of the crystals. A strip of indium was used between the copper and the crystal to provide an extended area for thermal contact.
It was found by x-ray topography that the crystals were easily strained so the clamping screws were loosened afterwards until they were just finger-tight. The final positions of the crystals were set with a lateral offset of 7.5 mm (along the beam) and a vertical offset of 2.5 mm. This allowed tuning of the energy over the required 6-15 keV range while keeping the beam reasonably centered and with only a fraction of a millimeter change in vertical displacement.
The rocking curve was measured by scanning the delta-theta motion that changes the angle of the second crystal relative to the first. The rocking curve width corresponded to about 0.1 mm of motion of the screw-jack wedge-drive, or about 200 steps on the motor. This was found to be sufficiently geared-down for routine tuning and very little backlash were observed, once the standard motor-backlash correction was employed.
The tilt motion (chi) provided smooth horizontal beam steering with relatively little coupling to the delta-theta motion. The chi motion could be scanned, but a small residual backlash effect was obtained, perhaps arising from the gear chain; even though this could probably be corrected, it was not found to be inconvenient.
The great advantage of the simple design is the resulting stability. No feedback system was required to keep the monochromator tuned up. Some downward drift of the intensity was detected, which required re-optimization of delta-theta approximately every 12 to 24 hours. From a “cold” start, the relative motion moved by almost one rocking-curve-width in the first hour, but not significantly afterwards. Because of the relatively good stability, we did not benefit enormously from operation in “top-up” mode, as other groups have found.
Wide-ranging energy scans could be performed routinely, as shown in
For this measurement, 1 mm vertical and 0.25 mm horizontal slits were used in front of the beam-splitting mirror [1], which is located 26 m from the source. The mirror is a liquid-nitrogen-cooled block of Si coated with Pt [1]. The monochromator was located at 46 m.
This work was supported in part by the National Science Foundation under: Contract No. DMR-9724294 and DOE DEFG02-91ER45439
