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Beamteam Research Group

Education

  • University of Saskatchewan
    Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
    B.E. in Engineering Physics
    April 2004
  • M.Sc. in Physics
    November 2006
  • Ph.D. in Physics
    October 2013

Current Employment

  • Science Associate, Canadian Light Source Inc. (Saskatoon, SK)

Ph.D. Thesis

  • A soft X-ray emission endstation for the Canadian Light Source

M.Sc. Thesis

Design of a High Performance Soft X-Ray Emission Spectrometer for the REIXS Beamline at the Canadian Light Source

Abstract

The optical design of a soft X-ray (90-1100 eV) emission spectrometer for the Resonant Elastic and Inelastic X-ray Scattering (REIXS) beamline to be implemented at the CLS is presented. An overview of soft X-ray optical theory as it relates to diffraction gratings is given. The initial constraints and the process that led to this design are outlined. Techniques and software tools that were developed, using raytracing and diffraction grating efficiency calculations, are discussed. The analysis completed with these tools to compare existing soft X-ray emission spectrometer designs is presented. Based on this analysis, a new design with superior performance for this application is proposed and reviewed. This design employs Rowland circle geometry to achieve a resolving power in excess of 2,500 in the range of interest. In addition, a novel design is proposed for a larger extremely high resolution spectrometer which will provide resolving powers exceeding 10,000 throughout the higher end of this range. A review is given of research into the components, manufacturing techniques and tolerances that will be required to produce this spectrometer.

Project

My M.Sc. project saw the completion of the optical design for the REIXS beamline spectrometer. My Ph.D. project will pick up where my M.Sc left off. I will be working on the mechanical design, parts acquisition, assembly, and commissioning off this spectrometer. I will also be working closely with the Canadian Light Source on the commissioning of the entire REIXS beamline, and I hope to be involved with the first scientific measurements to be made with this system. 

Publications

  • F. Hintze, N.W. Johnson, M. Seibald, D. Muir, A. Moewes, and W. Schnick, Magnesium Double Nitride Mg3GaN3 and Binary Nitride Mg3N2 as New Host Lattices for Eu2+-Doping – Synthesis, Structural Studies, Luminescence and Band Gap Determination ,Chem. Mat. 25, 4044-4052 (2013).
  • M. Boots, D. Muir and A. Moewes, Optimizing and characterizing grating efficiency for a soft X-ray spectrometer  , J. Synchr. Rad. 20, 272-285 (2013).
  • A. Hunt, D. Muir and A. Moewes, Studying 4d - 4f transitions in Er using resonant inelastic scattering, J. Electr. Spectr. Rel. Phenom. 144-147, 573-576 (2005).