Elliptical x-ray microprobe mirrors by differential deposition

A differential coating method is described for fabricating high-performance x-ray microfocusing mirrors. With this method, the figure of ultrasmooth spherical mirrors can be modified to produce elliptical surfaces with low roughness and low figure errors. Submicron focusing is demonstrated with prototype mirrors. The differential deposition method creates stiff monolithic mirrors which are compact, robust, and easy to cool and align. Prototype mirrors have demonstrated gains of more than 10(4) in beam intensity while maintaining submilliradian divergence on the sample. This method of producing elliptical mirrors is well matched to the requirements of an x-ray microdiffraction Kirkpatrick-Baez focusing system. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0034-6748(00)01607-5].