摘要
Polarimetry is a highly sensitive method to quantify changes of the polarization state of light when passing through matter and is therefore widely applied in material science.The progress of synchrotron and X-ray free electron laser(XFEL)sources has led to significant developments of X-ray polarizers,opening perspectives for new applications of polarimetry to study source and beamline parameters as well as sample characteristics.X-ray polarimetry has shown to date a polarization purity of less than 1.4×10^(-11),enabling the detection of very small signals from ultrafast phenomena.A prominent application is the detection of vacuum birefringence.Vacuum birefringence is predicted in quantum electrodynamics and is expected to be probed by combining an XFEL with a petawatt-class optical laser.We review how source and optical elements affect X-ray polarimeters in general and which qualities are required for the detection of vacuum birefringence.
基金
the China Scholarship Council for financial support(No.201908310159)
The support of the High Energy Density Department at Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden–Rossendorf
the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China(Grant No.2018YFA0404803)
the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.11935008)
