An intense channeling radiation X-ray source

Already in the first publications about channeling radiation (CR), it has been declared as a unique quasi-monochromatic photon source. Numerous investigations devoted to the fundamental properties of CR have been carried out up to now at research centers all around the world. New perspectives for the application of CR as a non-conventional intense tunable X-ray source opened with the construction of brilliant superconducting cw electron sources.
At the Radiation source ELBE, systematic measurements of planar electron CR have been performed on diamond crystals. A water-cooled radiation production target has been constructed. The crystal alignment with respect to the beam axis is performed by means of an inventive remotely controlled goniometer.
Intense CR from 14.6 MeV electrons channeled along the (110) plane of a 150 micrometer thick diamond crystal has for the first time been produced at average beam currents of up to 100 microA. On-line monitoring the of CR X-rays at primary counting rates of the order of 10^11 photons per second and per 10% band width was realised by the use of a Compton spectrometer. Applying X-ray diffraction on a HOPG crystal, monochromatisation of CR and bremsstrahlung-background reduction has been investigated.