Properties Of Intense Quasi-Monochromatic X Rays Produced By Resonant Transition Radiation

To develop the possibilities of resonant transition radiation (RTR) as an intense quasi-monochromatic Xray source, we have measured energy spectra and angular distributions of the RTR X rays emitted from Kapton- and silicon-foil stacks by varying the number of foils, foil thickness, and spacing between adjacent foils. The intensity of RTR X rays increases nonlinearly with the number of foils in case of 12.5-mu m thick Kapton- and silicon-foil stacks. The energy of the RTR X rays can be tuned by changing only the thickness of the foil and will be defined well when the X rays are sliced at a fixed emission angle. The obtained brilliance of 1.4x10(12) photons/(s . mrad(2) . mm(2) . 0.1% b.w.. mA) for the peak energy of 6.7-keV X rays is comparable to those of synchrotron radiation (SR) emitted by using bending magnets in GeV-electron facilities.