Towards Poisson noise limited optical pump soft X-ray probe NEXAFS spectroscopy using a laser-produced plasma source

Abstract

We present a laboratory setup for near edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy (NEXAFS) in the soft X-ray regime between 284 eV to 1303 eV with a resolving power of up to 1370. Based on a laser-produced plasma source, a pair of identical reflection zone plates and an X-ray CCD camera, the setup is intended for optical pump X-ray probe NEXAFS measurements with a detectable change in absorption of the excited sample down to 10-4 and 500 ps time resolution. Because of the high stability of the source the statistical error only depends on the detector response and the number of photons detected and can reach the detector noise limit after a couple of thousands single shots. Thus, structure-function relationship investigations of bio-molecules are rendered feasible in the laboratory.