A multi-cone x-ray imaging Bragg crystal spectrometer.

This article describes a new x-ray imaging Bragg crystal spectrometer, which-in combination with a streak camera or a gated strip detector-can be used for time-resolved measurements of x-ray line spectra at the National Ignition Facility and other high power laser facilities. The main advantage of this instrument is that it produces perfect images of a point source for each wavelength in a selectable spectral range and that the detector plane can be perpendicular to the crystal surface or inclined by an arbitrary angle with respect to the crystal surface. These unique imaging properties are obtained by bending the x-ray diffracting crystal into a certain shape, which is generated by arranging multiple cones with different aperture angles on a common nodal line.