Design of a vacuum-compatible high-precision monochromatic beam-position monitor for use with synchrotron radiation from 5 to 25 keV

The Structural Biology Center beamline, 19ID, has been designed to take full advantage of the highly intense undulator radiation and very low source emittance available at the Advanced Photon Source. In order to keep the X-ray beam focused onto the pre-sample slits, a novel position-sensitive PIN diode array has been developed. The array consists of four PIN diodes positioned upstream of a 0.5 µm-thick metal foil placed in the X-ray beam. Using conventional difference-over-the-sum techniques, two-dimensional position information is obtained from the metal foil fluorescence. Because the full X-ray beam passes through the metal foil, the true beam center-of-mass is measured. The device is compact, inexpensive to construct, operates in a vacuum and has a working range of 8 mm × 10 mm that can be expanded with design modifications. Measured position sensitivity is 1-2 µm. Although optimized for use in the 5-25 keV energy range, the upper limit can be extended by changing metals or adjusting foil thickness.