Development of spinning-disk solid sample delivery system for high-repetition rate x-ray free electron laser...

Area of Science:

• Physics
• Materials Science
• Instrumentation

Background:

• X-ray Free-Electron Lasers (XFELs) produce intense pulses that destroy samples via Coulomb explosion.
• High-repetition rate XFEL experiments necessitate rapid sample replacement systems beyond current low-repetition rate capabilities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and characterize a novel system for continuous, high-speed solid sample delivery into XFEL interaction points.
• To enable advanced XFEL experiments requiring rapid sample turnover, such as those using pulse trains or high-repetition rate sources.

Main Methods:

• Designed and implemented a spinning disk system for sample delivery.
• Characterized the system's performance at the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) and European XFEL.
• Utilized a 25 μm copper foil as a sample, suitable for stimulated X-ray emission.

Main Results:

• Successfully demonstrated continuous sample delivery at very high speeds.
• Validated the system's functionality at leading hard X-ray nano-focus instruments.
• The copper foil sample is suitable as a gain medium for proposed X-ray laser oscillators.

Conclusions:

• The spinning disk system effectively addresses the need for rapid sample replacement in high-repetition rate XFEL experiments.
• This technology facilitates future research, including the development of X-ray laser oscillators.