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A special issue of Condensed Matter (ISSN 2410-3896).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 February 2019) | Viewed by 41658

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Dr. Alessandro Scordo

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INFN Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati, Frascati, Roma, Italy
Interests: nuclear physics; X-ray physics; detector R&D; spectrometers; mosaic crystal; radioprotection; radiobiology
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

On behalf of Condensed Matter, we would like to invite papers for consideration in a Special Issue dedicated to “High Precision X-Ray Measurements”, which will cover research activities and possible applications based on the most advanced detectors and detection technologies.

Since their discovery in 1895, the detection of X-rays had a strong impact in physics and in medicine, and a huge number of applications revolutionized our scientific and technological disciplines: X-rays probe the structure of crystals, ordinary and exotic atoms, return information on the emission from stars and galaxies but allow also to image tiny structures or the smallest virus that ordinary microscopes cannot detect.

Efforts have been done to develop new type of detectors and new techniques, aiming to obtain higher precisions both in terms of energy and position. Depending on the applications, solid state detectors, microcalorimeters and different spectrometers provide, nowadays, the best performances to spectroscopy and imaging methods. The now reachable few microns and meV resolution open the door towards ground breaking applications in fundamental physics, medicine, life science, astrophysics, cultural heritage and several other fields.

The aim of this Special Issue is to collect original contributions from different communities and research fields, of the most recent developments in X-ray detection. Main topics will include nuclear physics, e.g., exotic atoms measurements, quantum physics, XRF, XES, EXAFS, X-ray optics, plasma emission spectroscopy, monochromators, synchrotron radiation, telescopes and space engineering.

Sincerely yours

Dr. Alessandro Scordo
Guest Editor

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Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Condensed Matter is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

X-ray energy detectors
X-ray position detectors
Spectrometers
X-ray optics
Pyrolitic Graphite mosaic crystals
X-ray imaging
X-rays in astrophysics
X-rays in nuclear physics
Cultural heritage applications of X-rays
Medical applications
X-ray interferometry

Related Special Issue

High Precision X-ray Measurements 2023 in Condensed Matter (11 articles)

Published Papers (12 papers)

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Editorial

Jump to: Research

4 pages, 178 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

High Precision X-Ray Measurements

by Alessandro Scordo

Condens. Matter 2019, 4(2), 59; https://doi.org/10.3390/condmat4020059 - 25 Jun 2019

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2014

Abstract

Since their discovery in 1895, the detection of X-rays has had a strong impact and various applications in several fields of science and human life [...] Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue High Precision X-Ray Measurements)

Research

Jump to: Editorial

7 pages, 1484 KiB

Open AccessArticle

High Precision Test of the Pauli Exclusion Principle for Electrons

by Kristian Piscicchia, Aidin Amirkhani, Sergio Bartalucci, Sergio Bertolucci, Massimiliano Bazzi, Mario Bragadireanu, Michael Cargnelli, Alberto Clozza, Catalina Curceanu, Raffaele Del Grande, Luca De Paolis, Jean-Pierre Egger, Carlo Fiorini, Carlo Guaraldo, Mihail Iliescu, Matthias Laubenstein, Johann Marton, Marco Miliucci, Edoardo Milotti, Andreas Pichler, Dorel Pietreanu, Alessandro Scordo, Hexi Shi, Diana Laura Sirghi, Florin Sirghi, Laura Sperandio, Oton Vazquez Doce and Johann Zmeskal Show full author list Hide full author list

Condens. Matter 2019, 4(2), 45; https://doi.org/10.3390/condmat4020045 - 02 May 2019

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3112

Abstract

The VIP-2 experiment aims to perform high precision tests of the Pauli Exclusion Principle for electrons. The method consists in circulating a continuous current in a copper strip, searching for the X radiation emission due to a prohibited transition (from the 2p level to the 1s level of copper when this is already occupied by two electrons). VIP already set the best limit on the PEP violation probability for electrons

\frac{1}{2} β^{2} < 4.7 \times 10^{- 29}

, the goal of the upgraded VIP-2 (VIolation of the Pauli Exclusion Principle-2) experiment is to improve this result of two orders of magnitude at least. The experimental apparatus and the results of the analysis of a first set of collected data will be presented. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue High Precision X-Ray Measurements)

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14 pages, 6794 KiB

Open AccessArticle

X-ray Detectors for Kaonic Atoms Research at DAΦNE

by Catalina Curceanu, Aidin Amirkhani, Ata Baniahmad, Massimiliano Bazzi, Giovanni Bellotti, Carolina Berucci, Damir Bosnar, Mario Bragadireanu, Michael Cargnelli, Alberto Clozza, Raffaele Del Grande, Carlo Fiorini, Francesco Ghio, Carlo Guaraldo, Mihail Iliescu, Masaiko Iwasaki, Paolo Levi Sandri, Johann Marton, Marco Miliucci, Pavel Moskal, Szymon Niedźwiecki, Shinji Okada, Dorel Pietreanu, Kristian Piscicchia, Alessandro Scordo, Hexi Shi, Michal Silarski, Diana Sirghi, Florin Sirghi, Magdalena Skurzok, Antonio Spallone, Hideyuki Tatsuno, Oton Vazquez Doce, Eberhard Widmann and Johann Zmeskal Show full author list Hide full author list

Condens. Matter 2019, 4(2), 42; https://doi.org/10.3390/condmat4020042 - 25 Apr 2019

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3492

Abstract

This article presents the kaonic atom studies performed at the INFN National Laboratory of Frascati (Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati dell’INFN, LNF-INFN) since the opening of this field of research at the DA

Φ

NE collider in early 2000. Significant achievements have been obtained [...] Read more.

Φ

NE collider in early 2000. Significant achievements have been obtained by the DA

Φ

NE Exotic Atom Research (DEAR) and Silicon Drift Detector for Hadronic Atom Research by Timing Applications (SIDDHARTA) experiments on kaonic hydrogen, which have required the development of novel X-ray detectors. The 2019 installation of the new SIDDHARTA-2 experiment to measure kaonic deuterium for the first time has been made possible by further technological advances in X-ray detection. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue High Precision X-Ray Measurements)

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7 pages, 2499 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Structural Evolution of MoO₃ Thin Films Deposited on Copper Substrates upon Annealing: An X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy Study

by Salvatore Macis, Javad Rezvani, Ivan Davoli, Giannantonio Cibin, Bruno Spataro, Jessica Scifo, Luigi Faillace and Augusto Marcelli

Condens. Matter 2019, 4(2), 41; https://doi.org/10.3390/condmat4020041 - 18 Apr 2019

Cited by 20 | Viewed by 3637

Abstract

Structural changes of MoO₃ thin films deposited on thick copper substrates upon annealing at different temperatures were investigated via ex situ X-Ray Absorption Spectroscopy (XAS). From the analysis of the X-ray Absorption Near-Edge Structure (XANES) pre-edge and Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (EXAFS), we show the dynamics of the structural order and of the valence state. As-deposited films were mainly disordered, and ordering phenomena did not occur for annealing temperatures up to 300 °C. At ~350 °C, a dominant α-MoO₃ crystalline phase started to emerge, and XAS spectra ruled out the formation of a molybdenum dioxide phase. A further increase of the annealing temperature to ~500 °C resulted in a complex phase transformation with a concurrent reduction of Mo⁶⁺ ions to Mo⁴⁺. These original results suggest the possibility of using MoO₃ as a hard, protective, transparent, and conductive material in different technologies, such as accelerating copper-based devices, to reduce damage at high gradients. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue High Precision X-Ray Measurements)

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14 pages, 794 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Pyrolitic Graphite Mosaic Crystal Thickness and Mosaicity Optimization for an Extended Source Von Hamos X-ray Spectrometer

by Alessandro Scordo, Catalina Curceanu, Marco Miliucci, Florin Sirghi and Johann Zmeskal

Condens. Matter 2019, 4(2), 38; https://doi.org/10.3390/condmat4020038 - 03 Apr 2019

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2894

Abstract

Bragg spectroscopy, one of the best established experimental techniques for high energy resolution X-ray measurements, has always been limited to the measurement of photons produced from well collimated (tens of microns) or point-like sources; recently, the VOXES collaboration at INFN National Laboratories of Frascati developed a prototype of a high resolution and high precision X-ray spectrometer working also with extended isotropic sources. The realized spectrometer makes use of Highly Annealed Pyrolitic Graphite (HAPG) crystals in a “semi”-Von Hamos configuration, in which the position detector is rotated with respect to the standard Von Hamos one, to increase the dynamic energy range, and shows energy resolutions at the level of 0.1% for photon energies up to 10 keV and effective source sizes in the range 400–1200

μ

m in the dispersive plane. Such wide effective source dimensions are achieved using a double slit system to produce a virtual point-like source between the emitting target and the crystal. The spectrometer performances in terms of reflection efficiency and peak resolution depend on several parameters, among which a special role is played by the crystal mosaicity and thickness. In this work, we report the measurements of the Cu(K

_{α 1, 2}

) and the Fe(K

_{α 1, 2}

) lines performed with different mosaicity and thickness crystals in order to investigate the influence of the parameters on the peak resolution and on the reflection efficiency mentioned above. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue High Precision X-Ray Measurements)

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8 pages, 2226 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Energy Response of Silicon Drift Detectors for Kaonic Atom Precision Measurements

by Marco Miliucci, Mihail Iliescu, Aidin Amirkhani, Massimiliano Bazzi, Catalina Curceanu, Carlo Fiorini, Alessandro Scordo, Florin Sirghi and Johann Zmeskal

Condens. Matter 2019, 4(1), 31; https://doi.org/10.3390/condmat4010031 - 11 Mar 2019

Cited by 21 | Viewed by 2807

Abstract

Novel, large-area silicon drift detectors (SDDs) have been developed to perform precision measurements of kaonic atom X-ray spectroscopy, for the study the

\bar{K}

N strong interaction in the low-energy regime. These devices have special geometries, field configurations and read-out electronics, resulting in [...] Read more.

Novel, large-area silicon drift detectors (SDDs) have been developed to perform precision measurements of kaonic atom X-ray spectroscopy, for the study the

\bar{K}

N strong interaction in the low-energy regime. These devices have special geometries, field configurations and read-out electronics, resulting in excellent performances in terms of linearity, stability and energy resolution. In this work the SDDs energy response in the energy region between 4000 eV and 12,000 eV is reported, revealing a stable linear response within 1 eV and good energy resolution. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue High Precision X-Ray Measurements)

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19 pages, 3642 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Potential of EuPRAXIA@SPARC_LAB for Radiation Based Techniques

by Antonella Balerna, Samanta Bartocci, Giovanni Batignani, Alessandro Cianchi, Enrica Chiadroni, Marcello Coreno, Antonio Cricenti, Sultan Dabagov, Andrea Di Cicco, Massimo Faiferri, Carino Ferrante, Massimo Ferrario, Giuseppe Fumero, Luca Giannessi, Roberto Gunnella, Juan José Leani, Stefano Lupi, Salvatore Macis, Rosa Manca, Augusto Marcelli, Claudio Masciovecchio, Marco Minicucci, Silvia Morante, Enrico Perfetto, Massimo Petrarca, Fabrizio Pusceddu, Javad Rezvani, José Ignacio Robledo, Giancarlo Rossi, Héctor Jorge Sánchez, Tullio Scopigno, Gianluca Stefanucci, Francesco Stellato, Angela Trapananti and Fabio Villa Show full author list Hide full author list

Condens. Matter 2019, 4(1), 30; https://doi.org/10.3390/condmat4010030 - 07 Mar 2019

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 4074

Abstract

A proposal for building a Free Electron Laser, EuPRAXIA@SPARC_LAB, at the Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati, is at present under consideration. This FEL facility will provide a unique combination of a high brightness GeV-range electron beam generated in a X-band RF linac, a 0.5 [...] Read more.

^{12}

photons/pulse, femtosecond timescale and wavelength down to 3 nm, which lies in the so called “water window”. The experimental activity will be focused on the realization of a plasma driven short wavelength FEL able to provide high-quality photons for a user beamline. In this paper, we describe the main classes of experiments that will be performed at the facility, including coherent diffraction imaging, soft X-ray absorption spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering and photofragmentation measurements. These techniques will allow studying a variety of samples, both biological and inorganic, providing information about their structure and dynamical behavior. In this context, the possibility of inducing changes in samples via pump pulses leading to the stimulation of chemical reactions or the generation of coherent excitations would tremendously benefit from pulses in the soft X-ray region. High power synchronized optical lasers and a TeraHertz radiation source will indeed be made available for THz and pump–probe experiments and a split-and-delay station will allow performing XUV-XUV pump–probe experiments. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue High Precision X-Ray Measurements)

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13 pages, 2219 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Scintillator Pixel Detectors for Measurement of Compton Scattering

by Mihael Makek, Damir Bosnar and Luka Pavelić

Condens. Matter 2019, 4(1), 24; https://doi.org/10.3390/condmat4010024 - 15 Feb 2019

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3512

Abstract

The Compton scattering of gamma rays is commonly detected using two detector layers, the first for detection of the recoil electron and the second for the scattered gamma. We have assembled detector modules consisting of scintillation pixels, which are able to detect and reconstruct the Compton scattering of gammas with only one readout layer. This substantially reduces the number of electronic channels and opens the possibility to construct cost-efficient Compton scattering detectors for various applications such as medical imaging, environment monitoring, or fundamental research. A module consists of a 4 × 4 matrix of lutetium fine silicate scintillators and is read out by a matching silicon photomultiplier array. Two modules have been tested with a

^{22}

Na source in coincidence mode, and the performance in the detection of 511 keV gamma Compton scattering has been evaluated. The results show that Compton events can be clearly distinguished with a mean energy resolution of 12.2% ± 0.7% in a module and a coincidence time resolution of

0.56 \pm 0.02

ns between the two modules. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue High Precision X-Ray Measurements)

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11 pages, 2026 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Graphite Optics—Current Opportunities, Properties and Limits

by Inna Grigorieva, Alexander Antonov and Gennadi Gudi

Condens. Matter 2019, 4(1), 18; https://doi.org/10.3390/condmat4010018 - 24 Jan 2019

Cited by 16 | Viewed by 4551

Abstract

X-ray graphite optics consists of thin layers of Pyrolytic Graphite (PG) attached to a substrate of focusing shape. Pyrolytic Graphite is a perfect artificial graphite obtained by annealing of carbon deposit at temperatures about 3000 °C under deformation. By varying the annealing conditions, one could get PG of different mosaic structure and mechanical properties. A wide variability of the reflecting layer characteristics and optics shape makes the graphite optics useful in an extended range of applications. The optics could be adjusted to applications that require moderate resolution as EDXRF (energy dispersive X-Ray fluorescence) and as well as for high-resolution applications as EXAFS (extended X-ray absorption fine structure), XANES (X-ray absorption near-edge structure) and XES (X-ray emission spectroscopy). To realize the optics with theoretically optimized parameters the relationship between the production procedure and the mosaicity and reflectivity of the optics was experimentally studied. The influence of thickness, the type of PG (Highly Oriented PG (HOPG) or Highly Annealed PG (HAPG)) and substrate characteristics on the optics performance is presented. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue High Precision X-Ray Measurements)

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8 pages, 1497 KiB

Open AccessArticle

X-Ray Absorption Spectroscopy Measurements of Cu-ProIAPP Complexes at Physiological Concentrations

by Emiliano De Santis, Emma Shardlow, Francesco Stellato, Olivier Proux, Giancarlo Rossi, Christopher Exley and Silvia Morante

Condens. Matter 2019, 4(1), 13; https://doi.org/10.3390/condmat4010013 - 18 Jan 2019

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3466

Abstract

The amyloidogenic islet amyloid polypeptide (IAPP) and the associated pro-peptide ProIAPP_1–48 are involved in cell death in type 2 diabetes mellitus. It has been observed that interactions of this peptide with metal ions have an impact on the cytotoxicity of the peptides as well as on their deposition in the form of amyloid fibrils. In particular, Cu(II) seems to inhibit amyloid fibril formation, thus suggesting that Cu homeostasis imbalance may be involved in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes mellitus. We performed X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (XAS) measurements of Cu(II)-ProIAPP complexes under near-physiological (10 μM), equimolar concentrations of Cu(II) and peptide. Such low concentrations were made accessible to XAS measurements owing to the use of the High Energy Resolved Fluorescence Detection XAS facility recently installed at the ESRF beamline BM16 (FAME-UHD). Our preliminary data show that XAS measurements at micromolar concentrations are feasible and confirm that ProIAPP_1–48-Cu(II) binding at near-physiological conditions can be detected. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue High Precision X-Ray Measurements)

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17 pages, 2611 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Polarization Analysis in Mössbauer Reflectometry with Synchrotron Mössbauer Source

by Marina Andreeva, Roman Baulin, Aleksandr Chumakov, Tatiyana Kiseleva and Rudolf Rüffer

Condens. Matter 2019, 4(1), 8; https://doi.org/10.3390/condmat4010008 - 08 Jan 2019

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3592

Abstract

Polarization selection of the reflected radiation has been employed in Mössbauer reflectivity measurements with a synchrotron Mössbauer source (SMS). The polarization of resonantly scattered radiation differs from the polarization of an incident wave so the Mössbauer reflectivity contains a scattering component with 90° rotated polarization relative to the π-polarization of the SMS for some hyperfine transitions. We have shown that the selection of this rotated π→σ component from total reflectivity gives an unusual angular dependence of reflectivity characterized by a peak near the critical angle of the total external reflection. In the case of collinear antiferromagnetic interlayer ordering, the “magnetic” maxima on the reflectivity angular curve are formed practically only by radiation with this rotated polarization. The first experiment on Mössbauer reflectivity with a selection of the rotated polarization discovers the predicted peak near the critical angle. The measurement of the rotated π→σ polarization component in Mössbauer reflectivity spectra excludes the interference with non-resonant electronic scattering and simplifies the spectrum shape near the critical angle allowing for an improved data interpretation in the case of poorly resolved spectra. It is shown that the selected component of Mössbauer reflectivity with rotated polarization is characterized by enhanced surface sensitivity, determined by the “squared standing waves” depth dependence. Therefore, the new approach has interesting perspectives for investigations of surfaces, ultrathin layers and multilayers having complicated magnetic structures. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue High Precision X-Ray Measurements)

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12 pages, 7506 KiB

Open AccessArticle

DAFNE-Light DXR1 Soft X-Ray Synchrotron Radiation Beamline: Characteristics and XAFS Applications

by Antonella Balerna

Condens. Matter 2019, 4(1), 7; https://doi.org/10.3390/condmat4010007 - 08 Jan 2019

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3817

Abstract

X-ray Absorption Fine Structure Spectroscopy (XAFS) is a powerful technique to investigate the local atomic geometry and the chemical state of atoms in different types of materials, especially if lacking a long-range order, such as nanomaterials, liquids, amorphous and highly disordered systems, and polymers containing metallic atoms. The INFN-LNF DAΦNE-Light DXR1 beam line is mainly dedicated to soft X-ray absorption spectroscopy; it collects the radiation of a wiggler insertion device and covers the energy range from 0.9 to 3.0 keV or the range going from the K-edge of Na through to the K-edge of Cl. The characteristics of the beamline are reported here together with the XAFS spectra of reference compounds, in order to show some of the information achievable with this X-ray spectroscopy. Additionally, some examples of XAFS spectroscopy applications are also reported. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue High Precision X-Ray Measurements)

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