Evaluation of the focusing performance of bent Laue crystals using wave-optical theory

J. Appl. Cryst. (2008). 41, 237–248 [doi:10.1107/S0021889808000617]

[Laue crystal]Intensity distribution at different distances from a cylindrically bent Laue crystal.
Bent-Laue-crystal optics has proved to be one of the very few optical elements that allows one to focus wide beams of high-energy X-rays (above 30 keV) with high efficiency. The geometrical optics approximation, traditionally used for evaluating the performance of such crystals, has serious limitations on its validity. In our approach, quantitative analysis of the focusing performance of bent Laue crystals is carried out using numerical simulations of the process of propagation of spherical waves through the optical system, based on a rigorous wave-optics treatment, with some significant new findings.
Y.I. Nesterets and S.W. Wilkins