Enhancing the efficiency of a wavelength-dispersive spectrometer based on a slitless design using a single-bounce monocapillary

This paper introduces a novel slit-less wavelength-dispersive spectrometer design that incorporates a single-bounce monocapillary with the goal of positioning the sample directly on the Rowland circle, thereby eliminating the need for a traditional entrance slit. This configuration enhances photon throughput while preserving energy resolution, demonstrated in comparative measurements on boron nitride and different lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide cathodes. A common alternative to an entrance slit for limiting the source size on the Rowland circle is a customized design of the beamline involving a focusing optics unit consisting of two Kirkpatrick-Baez mirrors close to the end station. The new slit-less design does not rely on specialized beamlines and can be considered, thanks to the increased efficiency, for spectrometers using laboratory based sources equipped with equivalent optics. The comparative measurements found that the resolving power achieved was E/ΔE = 1085 at 401.5 eV incident energy, and the enhancement in detection efficiency was a factor of 3.7 due to more effective utilization of the X-ray beam.