Table-top high flux femtosecond soft X-ray beamline at the advanced laser light source: New scientific and industrial applications

威廉·伦琴博士在1895年发现X射线，是上个世纪科学取得重大突破的重要一步。在医学方面，这对我们的社会产生了重大影响，为医生提供了独特的诊断和治疗工具。在科学研究中，X射线用于原子、分子、生物结构和材料的光谱和结构表征。今天，来自不同科学领域的研究人员，包括生物学家，化学家和物理学家，都在期待使用X射线激光脉冲来探测具有高空间和高时间分辨率的动态过程。这种探索激发了世界各地X射线自由电子激光（XFEL）设施的建设，提供高亮度的飞秒X射线激光脉冲。除了数十亿欧元的巨额财政投资之外，这种设施的缺点是其有限的可用性，从而限制了可以进行的实验的数量。利用超快激光技术，我们建议在加拿大先进激光光源（ALLS）开发一个桌面高通量X射线激光束线，使用高谐波产生（HHG）过程提供飞秒脉冲，光谱扩展到千电子伏光子能量。这种超快X射线激光源有大量的科学应用，有可能在原子、分子和光学物理、生物和材料科学领域取得重大科学突破。此外，我们还与两家加拿大公司Axis Photonique Inc.合作。和应用纳米工具公司，所述第一制造超快X射线条纹照相机，并且所述第二X射线光学部件包括反射光栅和菲涅耳波带片。通过使用ALLS独特的台式高通量软X射线激光束线，我们的工业合作伙伴将拥有先进的计量技术，以显著改善其高价值仪器的表征和优化程序，这是外国竞争对手无法获得的优势。因此，他们将在制造业竞争力的独特地位。

The discovery of X-rays in 1895 by Dr. William Roentgen has been an important step towards major breakthroughs in the last century. In medicine, this has had a major impact on our society by providing physicians with unique tools for diagnostics and treatments. In scientific research, X-rays are used for spectroscopic and structural characterization of atoms, molecules, biological structures and materials. Today, researchers from a broad diversity of scientific horizons, including biologists, chemists and physicists, are anticipating using X-ray laser pulses to probe dynamical processes with combined high spatial and high temporal resolutions. This quest motivates the construction of X-ray Free Electron Laser (XFEL) facilities around the world providing femtosecond X-ray laser pulses of high brilliance. The drawback of such facility, on top of its huge financial investment of billion of Euros, is its limited availability thus restraining the number of experiments that can be performed. Using ultrafast laser technology, we propose to develop a table-top high flux X-ray laser beamline at the Canadian Advanced Laser Light Source (ALLS) delivering femtosecond pulses with spectra extending to the kilo-electronvolt photon energy using the process of High Harmonic Generation (HHG). There are a large number of scientific applications for such ultrafast X-ray laser source, with potential for major scientific breakthroughs in Atomic, Molecular and Optical physics, biological and material sciences. In addition, we are collaborating with two Canadian companies, Axis Photonique Inc. and Applied Nanotools Inc., the first manufacturing ultrafast X-ray streak-camera and the second X-ray optical components including reflective gratings and Fresnel Zone Plates. By having access to the unique table-top high flux soft X-ray laser beamline at ALLS, our industrial partners will have an advanced metrology to improve significantly the characterization and optimization procedures of their high value instruments, an advantage that would not be available to their foreign competitors. Therefore, they will be in a unique position of manufacturing competitiveness.