High Precision X-Ray Measurements

Abstract

Since their discovery in 1895, the detection of X-rays had a strong impact in physics and in medicine, and a huge number of applications revolutionized our scientific and technological disciplines: X-rays probe the structure of crystals, ordinary and exotic atoms, return information on the emission from stars and galaxies but allow also to image tiny structures or the smallest virus that ordinary microscopes cannot detect. Efforts have been done to develop new type of detectors and new techniques, aiming to obtain higher precisions both in terms of energy and position. Depending on the applications, solid state detectors, microcalorimeters and different spectrometers provide, nowadays, the best performances to spectroscopy and imaging methods. The now reachable few microns and meV resolution open the door towards ground breaking applications in fundamental physics, medicine, life science, astrophysics, cultural heritage and several other fields.