A Millisecond X-ray Reflectometer

Abstract

Many important processes occur at surfaces and interfaces on timescales ranging from milliseconds up to hours. The advent of third generation synchrotrons provides X-ray fluxes sufficiently high that it is now conceivable that these processes can be studied with millisecond time resolution using X-ray reflectometry. Several configurations for an X-ray reflectometer designed to measure X-ray reflectivity profiles with this time resolution are examined. The feasibility of each configuration in terms of information retrieval from reflectivity data is explored by application of modelling techniques to simulated ‘experimental’ data.