Non-uniform interval-pulse X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy for reduced exposure

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Physics
• Spectroscopy

Background:

• X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy (XPCS) uses coherent X-rays to study microscopic dynamics.
• High X-ray flux and wide-angle detection, often needed for fast dynamics, can damage samples.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a reduced-exposure XPCS technique for analyzing microscopic dynamics.
• To enable quantitative dynamical analysis in radiation-sensitive materials.

Main Methods:

• Implemented a non-uniform pulse-interval XPCS approach.
• Acquired only 11 scattering images at varied time intervals for broad delay times.
• Analyzed data using both XPCS and X-ray speckle visibility spectroscopy (XSVS) methods.

Main Results:

• Achieved quantitative dynamical analysis with significantly reduced X-ray exposure.
• Demonstrated consistent relaxation behaviors between XPCS and XSVS analyses.
• Enabled dense temporal sampling without increasing radiation dose.

Conclusions:

• The non-uniform pulse-interval XPCS approach efficiently probes complex or non-Brownian dynamics.
• This method expands XPCS applicability to soft and biological systems.
• Reduced X-ray exposure minimizes radiation-induced artefacts in sensitive samples.