Tunable x-ray polarimeters for synchrotron radiation sources

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Abstract
We describe the design and optical characteristics of a tunable x‐ray polarimeter set up at the National Synchrotron Light Source at Brookhaven. Initially, the energy range from 7.0 to 9.2 keV is covered with a polarization extinction ratio greater than 10 000 and a statistically limited sensitivity of 70 μrad in measurements of optical rotary power. First spectroscopic measurements on a wide range of cobalt compounds show optical activity, Faraday rotation, and circular dichroism in the energy region close to the cobalt K edge. More recently we have worked on a variety of samples containing iron near the iron K edge.