New generation of diffraction optical elements to focus 'hard' x-ray radiation

Focusing of 20 keV x-ray radiation using elliptical diffraction zones fabricated inside a silicon crystal have been observed successfully for the first time. These are the lenses with the first and third diffraction orders. An alignment of focusing elements was made with a 10 micron resolution x-ray imaging system. Focusing quality of the lenses have been investigated by using x-ray sensitive high resolution film and observing, under the light microscope, the shape of the registered focal spot first. And finally by scanning focal plane with pinhole and analysing three dimensional image. Experimens were made in a monochromatic beam. The signal/noise ratio of 300 have been obtained. These experiments open quite wide perspectives in focusing 'hard' x-ray radiation up to 100 keV. Authors are hoping that this kind of focusing elements will find there real applications in microdiffraction experiments with energy about 20 keV and higher, in microfluorescence analysis experiments, near edge absorption experiments with micron spacial resolution. A new scheme to focus 'hard' x-ray radiation have been suggested. Real geometry parameters for lens with elliptical diffraction zones was calculated for energy 60 keV