Characterization of a diamond crystal x-ray phase retarder

An x-ray phase retarder plate based on a diamond single crystal diffracting in the asymmetric Laue geometry has been characterized at the X25 wiggler beamline at the National Synchrotron Light Source. The forward diffracted (transmitted) beam, using the (111) Bragg planes in a 0.5 mm thick wafer with a (001) surface normal, was employed. A polarization analyzer based on a GaAs(111) crystal oriented to diffract the (222) and a different reflection simultaneously was used to determine the Stokes-Poincare polarization parameters of the beam transmitted by the diamond phase plate, at several settings of the diamond about its (111) rocking curve. At 7.1 keV, the phase plate performed as expected and it was proven possible to produce, with the plate, an almost completely left- or right-handed circularly polarized x-ray beam from a linearly polarized incident beam. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.