In the beginning of 21st century, at the Frascati’s National Laboratories (LNF) a team with dedicated research program on selected topics of radiation physics was involved in radiation physics studies within INFN CSN1/CSN5 commissions projects, until the creation of a specialized laboratory, the XLab-Frascati (XlabF) in 2010.
Actually, XlabF is a unique Italian laboratory dedicated to the design, manufacture and characterization of X-ray polycapillary optics (PolyCO). Involved in several national and international projects and collaborations, XlabF is focused on PolyCO application in several fields, such as cultural heritage, innovative materials, medical diagnostics, pharmacology, beam diagnostics, detectors characterization, etc. The laboratory activities aim in particular to characterize novel optics and evaluate various experimental schemes for different X-ray applications such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescence (XRF and TXRF - total reflction X-ray fluorescence) and X-ray imaging. The final result of our studies is the design and development of various instrumental prototypes and new X-ray desktop facilities for advanced techniques.
In this presentation we will present our experimental facilities: four are open to users (XENA, RXR, PXRDS and CTS), while one is actually under realization (SoX). Moreover, a dedicated technology facility to PolyCO production will be presented.
Techniques and Applications
Polycapillary optics added to X-ray techniques contributed to a huge improvement in terms of performances available with conventional lab setups, almost comparable to Synchrotron Radiation sources. At XLab Frascati, an X-ray based facility located at INFN-LNF, the expertise gained on X-ray techniques and polycapillary lenses, allowed researchers to carry out advanced X-ray spectroscopy and microscopy. This has paved the way to obtain challenging results in several research fields thanks to the improvement in terms of spatial resolution. In addition, 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. The potentialities of our X-ray based facility are showcased by the results obtained in some application scenarios ranging from material science, through biology to Cultural Heritage applications.
