Dream beam project

DOE x-ray light source facilities such as the APS, LCLS-II, NSLS-II and ALS are undergoing or have recently undergone major upgrades to increase the source brightness to enable groundbreaking science, based on laser-like, high coherent flux. Coherent imaging and diffraction techniques enable scientists to explore smaller timescales with finer spatial and energy resolution, addressing fundamental questions in chemistry, materials science, and biology. However, despite this enormous investment in source optimization, there is still great unleashed potential in the beamline optical systems that can harness and engineer these newly available x-ray beam properties. As advanced optical systems have transformed astronomy, photolithography, and light microscopy, the proposed Diffraction-limited Radiation Enhancement with Adaptive Mirrors (DREAM) project here aims to bring advanced optical system concepts to x-ray beamlines, shaping and steering x-ray beams and engineering their wavefronts to promote newly emerging imaging modes, and enable higher experimental sensitivities. Our approach takes advantage of recent technological developments in the field of x-ray adaptive optics to dynamically shape beams at the nanometer level, unlocking previously unavailable properties and experimental modes.

Advances in modeling, control, and adaptive mirrors, developed in this project work in concert to deliver customized beams, from stabilized point sources, to 3D scanning probes. Machine learning, which is already demonstrated for accelerator electron-beam feedback, will be applied to modeling and in-situ system calibration to simplify the complex interplay between the optical elements. This work develops a framework that can be deployed on any coherent beamline. Further, we propose the integration of beamlines with the experiments to demonstrate dynamic sample illumination for high-throughput data collection, leading ultimately to autonomous experiments. We will develop ways for adaptive optics to engineer the wavefront to give rise to new contrasts and higher sensitivity in experiments by tuning the phase of the light when it interacts with the sample.

Thus, by leveraging advances in x-ray sources, adaptive optics, modeling, and machine learning, the DREAM beam project develops generalizable tools that can be utilized to significantly enrich coherent x- ray applications. By weaving the beamline optics and control into the endstation experimental techniques, this work targets highs-speed experiments for in-operando studies of new micro-electronics, quantum devices or batteries, and it shapes x-ray beams to enrich our understanding of physical phenomenon in materials.

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Antoine Wojdyla