Fabrication of X-ray absorption grating using an ultracentrifuge machine

We propose a novel approach to fabricate hard-X-ray optics using an ultracentrifuge machine. As a demonstration, we fabricated an X-ray absorption grating made of gold with a pitch of 30 μm and an effective depth of 44 μm in 67 μm depth grooves [a filling rate of 65%, as same as the filling rate of random packing for equal-sized spheres in a jammed state (64%)]. Our approach is cost-efficient and has a high production-rate and material-selectivity, and will be widely used for fabricating optics not only for X-rays but also neutrons in the near future.