IRIXS Spectrograph: an ultra high-resolution spectrometer for tender RIXS

The IRIXS Spectrograph represents a new design of an ultra-high-resolution resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS) spectrometer that operates at the Ru L₃-edge (2840 eV). First proposed in the field of hard X-rays by Shvyd'ko [(2015), Phys. Rev. A, 91, 053817], the X-ray spectrograph uses a combination of laterally graded multilayer mirrors and collimating/dispersing Ge(111) crystals optics in a novel spectral imaging approach to overcome the energy resolution limitation of a traditional Rowland-type spectrometer [Gretarsson et al. (2020), J. Synchrotron Rad. 27, 538-544]. In combination with a dispersionless nested four-bounce high-resolution monochromator design that utilizes Si(111) and Al₂O₃(110) crystals, an overall energy resolution better than 35 meV full width at half-maximum has been achieved at the Ru L₃-edge, in excellent agreement with ray-tracing simulations.