A New 10m Grazing Incidence Instrument for Molecular X-ray Studies

A 10 m grazing incidence spectrometer for studies of soft X-ray emission from gases is described. The spectra are excited by a microprocessor controlled high power electron beam with electron optical arrangements for achieving differential pumping of sample gas. A grating at grazing incidence is used as the dispersive element. Adjustment of the analyzer is reduced to one degree of freedom (radius of curvature of grating) by using precision machined optical elements. The wavelength resolution of the analyzer is better than 10 mÅ without further adjustments. A recording of the 1st order L2, 3 emission spectrum of argon gas is presented.