X-ray resonance in crystal cavities: realization of Fabry-Perot resonator for hard x rays

Phys Rev Lett. 2005 May 6;94(17):174801. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.94.174801. Epub 2005 May 5.

Abstract

X-ray back diffraction from monolithic two silicon crystal plates of 25-150 microm thickness and a 40-150 microm gap using synchrotron radiation of energy resolution DeltaE = 0.36 meV at 14.4388 keV clearly show resonance fringes inside the energy gap and the total-reflection range for the (12 4 0) reflection. This cavity resonance results from the coherent interaction between the x-ray wave fields generated by the two plates with a gap smaller than the x-ray coherence length. This finding opens up new opportunities for high-resolution and phase-contrast x-ray studies, and may lead to new developments in x-ray optics.