Bending X-Ray Beams On A Chip

Researchers have found a way to bend X-ray beams using curved waveguides. The team of French and German researchers managed to guide x-rays on a curved waveguide in a small metal chip, according to a recent study.

The researchers' waveguides could be used in several applications, such as monitoring chemical reactions that are prompted by nanoparticles. Also, this new technique can produce higher resolutions using curved X-ray waveguides.

The researchers' approach in bending X-ray beams sends them through a sufficient but narrow channel, which is small enough to limit the beam's maximum angle of deflection. Also, the device that creates the beam has to be very precise.

The researchers were able to bend X-rays up to 18 degrees, then they used additional wave lengths in a curved channel that is 1 to 30 mm, and released the X-rays through them at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in France. The beams were bent at 30 degrees. Some of the X-rays in the beam did not go through the channel, but there were sufficient waveguides, which can be useful in interferometers and high-resolution applications devices, according to the researchers.

The researchers will continue their study on waveguides, and they believe that it is possible to bend X-rays to higher angles, between 90 to 180 degrees.

This new development could be used a variety of high resolution applications.

The findings of this study were published in the Physical Review Letters.

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