Multi-Pulse Effects in the Damage to the LCLS Reflective Optics

A number of experiments to be performed on the planned Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) will have to use various types of reflective optics (see, e.g., [1]). On the other hand, LCLS will operate at a rate of 120 x-ray pulses per second. Therefore, when considering effects leading to the damage to its optics, one has to be concerned not only with a possible damage within one pulse, but also with effects accumulating during many pulses. We identify and analyze two of such effects: a thermal fatigue, and the intensity-dependent radiation damage. The first effect is associated with thermal stresses and deformations that occur in every pulse. The heating of the surface layers of the optics leads to a peculiar distribution of stresses, with a strong concentration near the surface. The quasistatic analysis of this problem was presented in [2]. In the present study, we show that transients in both transverse and longitudinal acoustic perturbations play a significant role and generally worsen the situation. If the maximum stresses approach the yield strength, the thermal fatigue causes degradation of the surface within a few thousands pulses. The second effect is related to formation of clusters of ionized atoms which lead to gross deformation of the lattice and formation of numerous vacancies and interstitials. At maximum LCLS fluxes, the number of displacements per atom may reach values exceeding unity during a few hours of operation of LCLS, meaning degradation of reflective properties of the surface of the optics. We derive constraints on the admissible fluence per pulse and suggest ways for decreasing the impact of the multipulse effects