Application of partially coherent wavefront propagation calculations for design of coherence-preserving synchrotron radiation beamlines

Ultra-low emittance third-generation synchrotron radiation (SR) sources, such as NSLS-II and MAX-IV, will offer excellent opportunities for further development of experimental techniques exploiting X-ray coherence. However, even in these new SR sources, the radiation produced by relativistic electrons (in undulators, wigglers and bending magnets) will remain only partially coherent in the X-ray spectral range. “Extraction” of “coherent portion” of the radiation flux and its transport to sample without loss of coherence must be performed by dedicated SR beamlines, optimized for particular types of experiments. Detailed quantitative prediction of partially coherent X-ray beam properties at propagation through optical elements, which is required for the optimization of such beamlines, can only be obtained from accurate and efficient physical-optics based numerical simulations. Examples of such simulations, made for NSLS-II beamlines, using “Synchrotron Radiation Workshop” (SRW) computer code, are presented. Special attention is paid to the numerical analysis of the basic properties of partially coherent undulator radiation beam and its distinctions from the Gaussian beam. Performance characteristics of importance for particular beamlines, such as radiation spot size and flux at sample vs size of secondary source aperture for high-resolution microscopy beamlines, are predicted by the simulations.