Alvarez varifocal X-ray lens.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 37524749.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-023-40347-1 and PMC identifier 10390599.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Visible light optical elements such as lenses and mirrors have counterparts for X-rays. In the visible regime, a variable focusing power can be achieved by an Alvarez lens which consists of a pair of inline planar refractors with a cubic thickness profile. When the two refractors are laterally displaced in opposite directions, the parabolic component of the wavefront is changed resulting in a longitudinal displacement of the focus. This paper reports an implementation of this concept for X-rays using two planar microfabricated refractive elements. The Alvarez X-ray lens can vary the focal distance of an elliptical X-ray mirror or a planar compound X-ray lens over several millimetres. The study presents the first demonstration of an Alvarez X-ray lens which adaptively corrects defocus and astigmatism aberrations of X-ray optics. In addition, the Alvarez X-ray lens eliminates coma aberration in an elliptical mirror, to the lowest order, when combining the lens with an adjustment of the pitch angle of the mirror.