Backscattering channel-cut high-resolution monochromator for inelastic x-ray scattering

We report on a design and on some experimental results for the performance of a new high energy resolution monochromator. It is a large channel-cut Si crystal with a 197 mm separation between the two faces designed to operate in a near-backscattering regime. The device was tested as a second monochromator on Sector 3 of the Synchrotron Radiation Instrumentation Collaborative Access Team (SRI-CAT) at the Advanced Photon Source using the Si(777) reflection at a photon energy of 13.84 keV. The same monochromator can be used for other energies with reflections of the type (hhh). Special care has been taken to equalize the temperature of the two faces by employing a Peltier heat pump. A Si(111) double-crystal pre-monochromator designed to withstand the high heat load of the undulator radiation was used upstream on the beamline. The measured throughput efficiency of the Si(777) channel-cut monochromator was less than ideal by a factor of 1.9. Dynamical diffraction theory was used to calculate the throughput of an ideally perfect crystal.