High-energy X-ray diffraction experiment employing a compact synchrotron X-ray source based on inverse Compton scattering

Abstract

X-ray diffraction (XRD) is an important material analysis technique with a widespread use of laboratory systems. These systems typically operate at low X-ray energies (from 5 keV to 22 keV) since they rely on the small bandwidth of K-lines like copper. The narrow bandwidth is essential for precise measurements of the crystal structure in these systems. Inverse Compton X-ray source (ICS) could pave the way to XRD at high X-ray energies in a laboratory setting since these sources provide brilliant energy-tunable and partially coherent X-rays. This study demonstrates high-energy XRD at an ICS with strongly absorbing mineralogical samples embedded in soft tissue. A quantitative comparison of the measured XRD patterns with calculations of their expected shapes validates the performance of ICSs for XRD. This analysis was performed for two types of kidney stones of different materials. Since these stones are not isolated in a human body, the influence of the surrounding soft tissue on the XRD pattern is investigated and a correction for this soft tissue contribution is introduced.