Windfield1554

At present, the Functional Materials Beamline at CHESS, which is used for time-resolved in situ characterization of soft materials during processing, has been outfitted with the described setup.A more general analytical theory of X-ray beam propagation through compound refractive lenses (CRLs) than the earlier study by Kohn [(2003). JETP, 97, 204-215] is presented. The problem of nanofocusing with CRLs is examined in detail. For a CRL with a relatively large aperture the focusing efficiency is limited by the radiation absorption in the lens material. The aperture does not affect the focusing process and it is replaced by the effective aperture. The X-ray transverse beam size at the focus is then by a factor of γ = β/δ times smaller than the transverse beam size just behind the CRL. Here, δ and β are the real and imaginary parts of the CRL material refractive index n = 1 - δ + iβ. In this instance, to improve focusing efficiency, it is advantageous to decrease the CRL aperture and increase the photon energy E. However, with increasing photon energy, the material absorption decreases, which results in the CRL aperture impact on the transverse beam size. The latter leads to the fact that with a proper CRL length the beam size is independent of both the aperture and photon energy but depends only on the CRL material electron density and is approximately equal to wc = λ/(8δ)1/2, where λ denotes the radiation wavelength, as predicted by Bergemann et al. Fisogatinib cost [(2003). Phys. Rev. Lett, 91, 204801].It has been shown previously both in vitro and in vivo that microbeam irradiation (MBI) can control malignant tumour cells more effectively than the clinically established concepts of broad beam irradiation. With the aim to extend the international capacity for microbeam research, the first MBI experiment at the biomedical beamline SYRMEP of the Italian synchrotron facility ELETTRA has been conducted. Using a multislit collimator produced by the company TECOMET, arrays of quasi-parallel microbeams were successfully generated with a beam width of 50 µm and a centre-to-centre distance of 400 µm. Murine melanoma cell cultures were irradiated with a target dose of approximately 65 Gy at a mean photon energy of ∼30 keV with a dose rate of 70 Gy s-1 and a peak-to-valley dose of ∼123. This work demonstrated a melanoma cell reduction of approximately 80% after MBI. It is suggested that, while a high energy is essential to achieve high dose rates in order to deposit high treatment doses in a short time in a deep-seated target, for in vitro studies and for the treatment of superficial tumours a spectrum in the lower energy range might be equally suitable or even advantageous.An undulator generating a magnetic field whose longitudinal profile is arbitrarily varied has been developed, which is one of the key components in a number of proposed new concepts in free-electron lasers. The undulator is composed of magnet modules, each of which corresponds to a single undulator period, and is driven by a linear actuator to change the magnetic gap independently. To relax the requirement on the actuator, the mechanical load on each module due to magnetic force acting from opponent and adjacent modules is reduced by means of two kinds of spring systems. The performance of the constructed undulator has been successfully demonstrated by magnetic measurement and characterization of synchrotron radiation.Microbeam radiation therapy (MRT) is a developing radiotherapy, based on the use of beams only a few tens of micrometres wide, generated by synchrotron X-ray sources. The spatial fractionation of the homogeneous beam into an array of microbeams is possible using a multislit collimator (MSC), i.e. a machined metal block with regular apertures. Dosimetry in MRT is challenging and previous works still show differences between calculated and experimental dose profiles of 10-30%, which are not acceptable for a clinical implementation of treatment. The interaction of the X-rays with the MSC may contribute to the observed discrepancies; the present study therefore investigates the dose contribution due to radiation interaction with the MSC inner walls and radiation leakage of the MSC. Dose distributions inside a water-equivalent phantom were evaluated for different field sizes and three typical spectra used for MRT studies at the European Synchrotron Biomedical beamline ID17. Film dosimetry was utilized to determine the contribution of radiation interaction with the MSC inner walls; Monte Carlo simulations were implemented to calculate the radiation leakage contribution. Both factors turned out to be relevant for the dose deposition, especially for small fields. Photons interacting with the MSC walls may bring up to 16% more dose in the valley regions, between the microbeams. Depending on the chosen spectrum, the radiation leakage close to the phantom surface can contribute up to 50% of the valley dose for a 5 mm × 5 mm field. The current study underlines that a detailed characterization of the MSC must be performed systematically and accurate MRT dosimetry protocols must include the contribution of radiation leakage and radiation interaction with the MSC in order to avoid significant errors in the dose evaluation at the micrometric scale.Synchrotron radiation sources have been used to study the focusing properties and angular distribution of X-ray radiation at the exit of spherically bent microchannel plates (MCPs). In this contribution it is shown how soft X-ray radiation at energies up to 1.5 keV can be focused by spherically bent MCPs with curvature radii R of 30 mm and 50 mm. For these devices, a focus spot is detectable at a distance between the detector and the MCP of less than R/2, with a maximum focusing efficiency up to 23% of the flux illuminating the MCP. The soft X-ray radiation collected at the exit of microchannels of spherically bent MCPs are analyzed in the framework of a wave approximation. A theoretical model for the wave propagation of radiation through MCPs has been successfully introduced to explain the experimental results. Experimental data and simulations of propagating radiation represent a clear confirmation of the wave channeling phenomenon for the radiation in spherically bent MCPs.