Total reflection x‐ray fluorescence spectrometer with parallel primary beam

A new type of x‐ray optical device with two curved mirrors was tested experimentally for total reflection x‐ray fluorescence (TXRF). When focusing optics are used to increase the primary beam intensity at the sample position of TXRF spectrometers, it is always associated with an increase in the angular divergence, which is tolerable to only a limited extent. The possibility of improving the divergence by means of an additional curved mirror was reported in the past. One may hope that this additional mirror will correct some of the adverse characteristics of conventional x‐ray sources, such as the angular divergence and the intensity at the sample position. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.