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Updated: Jun 19, 2026

Measurement of X-ray Beam Coherence along Multiple Directions Using 2-D Checkerboard Phase Grating
Published on: October 11, 2016
Fringe formation and coherence of a soft-x-ray laser beam illuminating a Mach-Zehnder interferometer
Abstract:
We investigated the fringe visibility produced by a Mach-Zehnder interferometer illuminated by a collisionally pumped yttrium x-ray laser operating at 15.5 nm. Fringe visibility varied as a function both of relative path delay and of relative spatial overlap of the beams. This visibility information was extracted quantitatively from several interferograms and analyzed to produce a characterization of the temporal coherence, yielding a gain-narrowed linewidth of 1.3 pm for the 15.5-nm laser transition and spatial coherence consistent with an effective source size of approximately 220 microm +/- 50% at the x-ray laser output.
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