Interferometry with x rays

Abstract

IN THIS NEW BRANCH of applied x‐ray optics, crystals that obey Bragg's law of reflection are used as optical components. The physics of these devices is very simple and has long been available in the works of, for example, Max von Laue and Paul Ewald. Construction and operation of x‐ray interferometers, however, had to await the arrival of large, almost perfect, artificially grown single crystals. In the five years that have elapsed since the first successful x‐ray interferometer was made only a few of the possible applications have been exploited.