Conveners
Session: Morning #1
- Alessandro Scordo (LNF)
Session: Morning #2
- Gaetano Campi (Istituto di Cristallogefia - CNR)
Session: Morning #3
- Anna Bergamaschi (Paul Scherrer Institut)
Session: Afternoon #1
- Massimo Ferrario (LNF)
Session: Afternoon #2
- Manuel Sanchez del Rio (ESRF)
Session: Afternoon #3
- Peter Predehl (Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik)
Session: Morning #1
- Francesco D'Acapito (CNR)
Session: Morning #2
- Alessandra Gianoncelli (Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste)
Session: Morning #3
- Sultan Dabagov (LNF)
Session: Afternoon #1
- Maurizio Benfatto (LNF)
Session: Afternoon #2
- Luca Rebuffi (Argonne National Laboratory)
Session: Afternoon #3
- Naurang Saini (Sapienza Università di Roma)
Session: Morning #1
- Shinji Okada (RIKEN)
Session: Morning #2
- Kenichi Kato (RIKEN SPring-8 Center)
Session: Morning #3
- Johann Marton (Stefan Meyer Institute)
Session: Afternoon #1
- Andrea Zappettini
Session: Afternoon #2
- Héctor Jorge Sanchez
Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen – born in Remscheid, Germany world renowned researcher, brilliant physicist and receiver of the first Nobel Prize. His work revolutionized medical diagnostics and paved the way for numerous applications in modern science and technology without which our modern world would be inconceivable. An extraordinary personal and historic achievement – and yet Roentgens life and...
X-Ray Absorption spectroscopy (XAS) is a powerful tool to investigate both the electronic and geometrical structure around to a well defined absorbing atom belonging to any type of material, from biological samples to condensed matter. In this talk I will present a general theoretical scheme to analyze the experimental data from the edge up to very high energy. This scheme, based on the...
Precision X-ray spectroscopy of the muonic atoms isolated in vacuum is an ideal probe to explore quantum electromagnetic dynamics (QED) under extremely strong electric fields, which is one of the major topic in fundamental atomic physics. We have performed the measurement using an X-ray spectrometer based on multi-pixel array of superconducting transition-edge-sensor (TES) microcalorimeters at...
A new Research Infrastructure named “EuPRAXIA@SPARC_LAB” has been recently funded by the Italian Minister of Research and INFN. In its final configuration it will equip LNF with a multi-disciplinary user-facility, based on a soft X-ray Free Electron Laser (FEL) driven by a ~1 GeV compact electron accelerator. This fundamental goal will be achieved by using a high gradient X-band RF linac to...
In recent years, the direct search for light dark matter (DM) particles at the sub-GeV/c² mass scale gained increasing interest due to several benefits of the theory – concerning the explanation of astrophysical observations – as well as due to the experimental exclusion of heavier candidates. One promising option for a direct detection is the scattering of light DM particles with electrons....
Dynamical structural and electronic disorder at nano and mesoscale plays an important role in the functionality of complex materials. Here local heterogeneity and weak interactions developing between structural units cause dynamical spatio-temporal configurations with correlated disorder. Visualizing these configurations is fundamental for understanding the physical properties of complex...
Modern accelerators offer more bright source of X-rays and particles, intense laser beams and reproduce astrophysically relevant conditions in laboratory. To investigate or monitor such sources, materials that survive in the vicinity of extreme processes are needed.
Well Aligned Pyrolytic Graphite (WAPG) offers interesting solutions for working in a harsh environment due to a unique...
Silicon Drift Detectors (SDDs) are widely used in X-ray measurements, in particular for spectroscopy applications. New challenges in terms of counting rates, for instance with new generations of synchrotron light sources, push the development towards new topologies of monolithic SDDs equipped with fast CMOS readout electronics. In this work, recent approaches taken by our team, namely ARDESIA...
In this talk I will present how to design and analyze optical systems using computer tools in Oasys [1] with different complexity. The idea is starting from simple analytical calculations by hand, then applying ray-tracing, based on geometrical optics that is well adapted for systems using incoherent light beams. In the case that the coherent fraction of the beams is close to one, models bases...
Advances in x-ray techniques, including x-ray optics, have paved the way to obtain challenging results in several research fields thanks to the improvement in terms of spatial resolution. This is particularly true for x-ray fluorescence (XRF), where the combination of conventional x-ray sources with polycapillary optics has permitted to have high flux and high focused beams. However, XRF...
X-ray applications are widely used in the world. By the way, due to the high interaction between radiation and matter, experimental setup, in particular optical devices, suitable for X-ray radiation is not trivial [1-3]. Consequently, performing high efficiency experiment is almost possible only in dedicated Laboratories, as Synchrotron Radiation labs.
However, in the last 30 years, the...
A detection system specially designed and developed in order to optimize the potentials of XRF-XAFS sensitivity and efficiency is presented. It consists of 8 monolithic multipixel arrays, each with 8 (SDD) cells with a total area of 570 mm$^2$. Optimized to work in an energy range of 3-30 keV, this 64 channels integrated detection system includes ultra-low noise front-end electronics,...
Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) is a powerful elemental analysis method thanks to the negligible sample preparation, rapid detection, and a spatially resolved sensitivity down to trace level in any kind of sample matrix [1]. LIBS has also the ability for 2D spatially resolved mapping as well as depth profiling at a given location showing a local 3D mapping [2], such as 3D-mapping...
CdZnTe crystals are largely exploited for the production of room temperature operating x and gamma ray spectroscopic imaging detectors operating in the 10 keV-1 MeV. This is because of CdZnTe large x-ray stopping power (large mean atomic number), high room temperature electrical resistivity (large enough band gap), good energy resolution (reasonable carrier transport properties).
In this...
The VIP experiment aims to perform high sensitivity tests of the Pauli Exclusion Principle (PEP) for electrons, and look for a possible small violation.
In Local Quantum Field Theories approach any PEP violating transition is strongly constrained by the Messiah Greenberg Superselection (MGS) rule, which forbids superpositions of states with different symmetry. Such models can then be only...
Precision X-ray spectroscopy of atomic transistions to the ground state of hadronic hydrogen can be used to extract the values of energy shift and broadening of the 1s ground state. Only the ground state is measurably influenced by the strong interaction meson-nucleon. A strongly refined experiment using a crystal spectrometer system was performed at PSI which resulted in improved shift and...
In the last decade, cadmium–zinc–telluride (CdZnTe or CZT) detectors are widely proposed for the development of room-temperature spectroscopic X-ray and gamma ray imagers. Recently, within an Italian research collaboration (DiFC of University of Palermo, IMEM-CNR of Parma and INAF/OAS of Bologna), we developed new imager prototypes, based on CZT pixel/strip detectors and digital pulse...
In this report the possibility for radiation coherence measurements in the x-ray energy range will be reported. Thirty years ago, the theory of x rays channeling in capillary systems has been established at basic principles. Later, it was developed extending for any kind of channel-based optical systems being simultaneously proved by various experimental tests. Measurements on diffraction...
Introduction
Radiotherapy of highly radiation-resistant brain cancers and non-small cell carcinomas in the head, neck and thoracic cavity is limited by the radiation tolerance of the brain and spinal cord. Synchrotron Microbeam Radiation Therapy (MRT) has a remarkably high normal tissue tolerance and allows delivery of extremely high irradiation doses. MRT uses collimated synchrotron...
Monometallic and bimetallic gold nanoparticles (NP) have been largely investigated for their applications in many different fields including catalysis and biomedicine. XAFS or X-ray Absorption Fine Structure spectroscopy can give important information on their electronic and structural properties. A short review of L3-near edge and extended X-ray absorption fine structure information...
Phase-change materials (PCMs), mainly based on chalcogenide alloys based on compounds lying on the GeTe/Sb2Te3 pseudo binary line of the Ge-Sb-Te ternary phase diagram (namely GST alloys such as GeTe, Ge2Sb2Te5 …), are a promising and widely studied class of materials for the production of non-volatile Phase-Change Memories and innovative...
Improving the accuracy of real-time dosimetry of intense X-ray beams at research or medical facilities requires the application of thin and compact detectors operated in transmission mode for online monitoring of the beam intensity and spatial profile.
In this context, we report on our activities to investigate the feasibility to detect high-intensity X-ray fluxes using Silicon...
The Advanced Surveyor of Transient Events and Nuclear Astrophysics (ASTENA) is a new high energy mission concept that has been proposed within the context of the European project AHEAD (Activities in the High-Energy Astrophysics Domain) that aims the promotion of synergies between the distinct national efforts in high-energy astrophysics and propose the next generation of gamma-ray...
The SIDDHARTA-2 experiment is ready to perform the first high precision X-ray spectroscopy measurement of the kaonic deuterium transitions to the fundamental level at the DAFNE collider of the INFN-LNF, to investigate the low-energy QCD in the strangeness sector. A dedicated experimental apparatus for high precision X-ray spectroscopy, which takes advantage of a new technology of Silicon...
Ionizing radiation is an effective tool employed in cancer therapy and recent technological developments have led radiotherapy to a high level of accuracy. Beyond targeted effects, many studies have also highlighted the importance of off-target consequences of ionizing radiation, such as the bystander and abscopal effects [1]. Several mechanisms have been identified for the propagation of...
Emission spectroscopy has been long-employed as a powerful passive diagnostic tool to probe electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) plasma properties. By comparing experimentally measured spectra with suitable theoretical models, quantities of physical importance like particle density, temperature and charge state distribution can be estimated.Traditionally, optical emission spectroscopy has been...
After a gap of more than 40 years since the first observations in space, the window for astronomical polarimetry in the soft X-ray band has recently reopened, thanks to the advancement in the field of gas polarimeters based on the photoelectric effect.
The NASA Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) mission, scheduled for launch in late 2021, will bring into orbit three identical detectors...
During the first Frascati workshop on high precision X-ray measurements, Christopher Schlesiger introduced our work on modeling the reflection properties of HAPG for X-rays. These efforts were motivated by our activities for the development of X-ray tube based spectrometers for high resolution X-ray spectroscopy, namely X-ray emission spectroscopy (XES) and X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS)....
A wide variety of emerging functional materials reveal their physical properties determined by electronic inhomogeneities appearing at varying length scales. Here, some of our recent studies using extended x-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) and space resolved photoemission on self-doped BiS$_2$-based superconducting systems will be presented. Space resolved photoemission shows metallic...
Corresponding author email: alessandra.patera@to.infn.it
Keywords: X-ray grating interferometer, Talbot-Lau, phase-contrast, wave front simulation.
Purpose: The 4D GRAPH-X (Dynamic GRAting-based PHase contrast X-ray imaging) project aims at developing a prototype of an X-ray grating-based phase-contrast imaging scanner in a laboratory setting, based on the Moirè single-shot...
EuPRAXIA@SPARC_LAB is the new Free Electron Laser (FEL) facility under construction at the Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati of the INFN. The electron beam of EUPRAXIA@SPARC_LAB will be delivered by an X-band normal conducting linac followed by a plasma wakefield acceleration stage. It will be characterized by a small footprint and it will deliver ultra-bright photon pulses for experiments in...
Hybrid detectors developed at PSI are used worldwide for synchrotron and XFEL applications. They consist in a sensor absorbing the X-ray radiation, usually silicon, connected to the CMOS readout electronics, that processes the signal generated by the sensor signal on a pixel by pixel basis. This gives the advantage that both components can be optimized separately.
Single photon counting...
Since 2013, OASYS (ORange SYnchrotron Suite) has been developed as a versatile, user-friendly and open-source graphical environment for modeling X-ray sources, optical systems, and experiments [1]. Its concept stems from the need of modern software tools to satisfy the demand of performing more and more complex analysis and design of optical systems for 4th generation synchrotron radiation and...
In X-ray fluorescence analysis, spectra present singular characteristics produced by the different scattering processes. When atoms are irradiated with incident energy lower but close to an absorption edge, scattering peaks appear due to an inelastic process known as Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering (RIXS) or X-ray Resonant Raman Scattering (RRS)[1,2]. These RIXS/RRS...
X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (XAFS) is a widely used powerful technique for obtaining elemental and chemical information in many fields such as biosciences, material sciences, catalysis and physical chemistry. XAFS utilizes a large bandwidth radiation that is tuned sequentially to capture the entire spectrum where the resolution is dependent on the monochromator bandwidth. The entire scanning...
The total scattering method, which is based on the measurement of both Bragg and diffuse scattering on an equal basis, is still challenging even by means of synchrotron X-rays. This is because such a measurement demands a wide coverage in scattering vector Q, high Q resolution, and wide dynamic range for X-ray detectors. There is a trade-off relationship between the coverage and resolution in...
Measurement of gamma-ray polarization is of interest in many areas of modern physics, both in fundamental and applied research. One interesting case is detection of polarized gamma radiation from positron annihilation. When the positronium decays to two gamma photons, they are created with orthogonal polarizations. It is possible to use coincidence measurements of the two photons to deduce...
X-ray imaging is an essential tool for non-invasive assessment of various samples, both for biomedical diagnosis and non-destructive testing applications. Many technical approaches have been proposed to enhance the level of information recorded in the X-ray images. When absorption properties are very similar between two components of a sample, it makes it difficult to separate them using X-ray...
Hard X/soft Gamma-ray astronomy is a key field for the study of important astrophysical phenomena such as the electromagnetic counterparts of gravitational waves, gamma-ray bursts, black holes physics and many more. However, the spatial localization, imaging capabilities and the sensitivity of our measurements are strongly limited for the energy range >70 keV due to the lack of focusing...
Digital radiography and computed tomography are two fundamental diagnostic techniques in different fields of research, including Cultural Heritage studies and gemmology; the application of these physical methods of investigation has gained considerable importance thanks also to their non-invasiveness. It is in fact of great importance to obtain information on the "invisible" parts of a work of...
What instrumention is needed to observe the X-rays generated in the hot Universe?
The next generation of wide-area, sensitive X-ray surveys designed to map the hot and energetic Universe has arrived, thanks to eROSITA (extended ROentgen Survey with an Imaging Telescope Array), the core instrument on the Russian-German Spektrum-Roentgen-Gamma (SRG) mission. eROSITA's high sensitivity, large...
Soft X-ray microscopy is a well-established and powerful tool often used for the scientific study of samples of interest at micrometric and sub-micrometric length scales in several research fields, from Life Sciences, to Materials Science, Environmental Science and Cultural Heritage. Here we present the capabilities of the TwinMic soft X-ray Microscopy end-station installed at the Elettra...
In the frame of the PANDORA (Plasmas for Astrophysics, Nuclear Decays Observation and Radiation for Archaeometry) project, aiming at measuring for the first time in-plasma nuclear β-decays of astrophysical interest, an innovative multi-diagnostic approach to correlate plasma parameters to nuclear activity has been proposed [1, 2]. This is based on several detectors and techniques (Optical...
The very big need for an improvement in the efficacy of real-time foreign-bodies and non-conformities inspection on production lines in the food sector has pushed Xnext towards the development of a novel patented inspection technology, called XSpectra®. The technology architecture is modular, each acquisition module being equipped with a 128 CdTe pixels 1D array and covering a linear...
EuPRAXIA is the first European project that develops a dedicated particle accelerator research infrastructure based on novel plasma acceleration concepts and laser technology. It focuses on the development of electron accelerators and underlying technologies, their user communities, and the exploitation of existing accelerator infrastructures in Europe.
Within this framework, the Laboratori...
X-ray detectors based on the photoluminescence of radiation-induced color centers (CCs) locally produced in lithium fluoride (LiF) crystals will be discussed. Among the peculiarities of LiF-based detectors, noteworthy ones are their very high intrinsic spatial resolution across a large field of view, wide dynamic range and versatility. LiF crystals irradiated with monochromatic X-rays (8 e 16...
Kaon is the lightest meson containing a strange quark, and would play an important role to understand a high-density nuclear matter such as neutron stars. To extract the strong interaction between an anti-kaon and a nucleus at low energies, X-ray spectroacopy of kaonic atoms, Coulomb bound systems of a negatively-charged kaon, a nucleus, and electrons, are quite unique.
We performed a kaonic...
One of the more quoted methods to perform high energy resolution X-ray measurements is given by the Bragg spectroscopy. The requirement on the size of the target not to exceed tens of microns represents the major hindrance in its use when the photons emitted from extended sources (millimetric) need to be measured. Also, the typical very low efficiencies og Bragg spectrometers prevent them from...
A new X-ray tracing code became available for general use last year. [1] It is dedicated to study and design X-ray crystal optics, with a special focus on mosaic crystal spectrometers. Its main advantage is that it includes a detailed and benchmarked algorithm to treat mosaic crystals, especially HOPG and HAPG. It is preferentially made to study crystal spectrometers, therefore their...
Exotic hadronic atoms, especially pionic and kaonic hydrogen atoms, in which one of these meson replaces the electron, play a unique role, because their study allows to experimentally investigating the strong interaction, described by Quantum Chromo Dynamics (QCD). Due to the strong interaction the ground state is shifted from his pure electromagnetic value and broadened due to absorption of...
