SENSING THE WAVEFRONT OF X-RAY FREE-ELECTRON LASERS USING AEROSOL SPHERES

by N D Loh, et al

Optics Express 21(10) 12385-12394 (2013)

Hartmann sensors can determine wavefront errors in optical systems by measuring deviated optical paths from carefully positioned lenses. But what if these lenses are randomly inserted, and destroyed immediately after illumination?

Despite such randomness, we show, for the first time, that wavefront properties of the unattenuated intense focus of x- ray free-electron laser can still be computationally assembled to aid optical design.

Pictured above: X-ray pulse fluctuations deduced from diffraction data. Fluctuations in wavefront tilts and intensity of x-ray pulses shown in contour plot above.

Read online: Optics Express.

Learn more about  N D Loh’s research.