An X-ray diffraction microscope at the Advanced Photon Source

Abstract
An instrument capable of high-resolution spatial mapping of crystallographic phase, lattice strain, and lattice distortion with x-rays of energies from 6 to 20 keV has been constructed and commissioned at the 2-ID-D beamline of the Advanced Photon Source. By integrating a hard x-ray Fresnel zone-plate-based microprobe and a six-circle diffractometer, the instrument provides a spatial resolution better than 250 nm, angular resolution of diffractometer circles better than 0.0001 , angular repeatability of the sample circles better than 0.001 , and almost full accessibility to the entire reciprocal space. The microprobe employs 10 cm and 40 cm (focal length at 8 keV) zone plates to provide high and moderate focusing power, respectively. Each zone-plate assembly has two identical zone plates stacked together to provide higher efficiency for higher energy (up to 30 keV) applications. The x-ray diffraction microscope has been applied to studies of the microstructures of bicrystal-supported magnetoresistive films.