Photoelectron angular distribution as a linear polarization analyzer for soft and tender X-rays

Abstract

Although the polarization of soft and tender X-rays is widely used to investigate the diverse physical properties of materials, experimental methods to determine the polarization of tender X-rays (1.5-3.0 keV) remain limited. To address this issue, we propose a method based on the photoelectron angular distribution to detect the polarization of X-rays in this energy range. The angular distribution of photoelectrons emitted from carbon targets was measured using linearly polarized 0.2 to 3.0 keV synchrotron radiation. The photoelectron intensity depends on the angle between the photon's electric field vector and the direction at which the photoelectron is emitted from the target. This result indicates that the photoelectron angular distribution can be used to reliably determine the linear polarization of soft and tender X-rays over a wide range of energy.