Ideally, we will get an X-ray laser someday; however, I do not foresee any potential technical approaches to achieve it at this point. I do believe that creating the X-ray optic that would enable the X-ray laser is a collective goal and I’m excited to see where the technology takes us.
For XOS specifically, we’re focused on improving our customers' instrumentation performance capabilities and maintaining current performances.
Absolutely. We have seen how capable an X-ray laser can be in science-fiction movies and how people could use it to destroy ourselves. Personally, I have a more optimistic view and believe that the future of optics will help humanity achieve scientific feats once thought impossible. This technology could revolutionize industries like medicine and diagnostics as well as astrophysics.
Of course, we must consider the cost of these achievements. Environmental impacts, fair treatment of people and their labor, and the potential harm caused by this technology in the wrong hands are just a few things we must consider as scientists as we continue to advance technology.
In my opinion, optics play the center role in modern X-ray analysis systems. It governs what X-ray sources to use and how the detector system can best utilize the performance enhancement that the optics have enabled. At XOS, we are committed to creating exceptional optics for our customers whose research has the potential to revolutionize various industries.
For XOS, the most critical challenge now is the manufacturing capability and yield. The performance of some of the most demanding polycapillary optics that we make can be 10 times lower than the theoretical performance. We are preparing to build new optic pulling towers (with approximately half a million-dollar investment) and would like to use this opportunity to improve our manufacturing capabilities.
I would love to work on a fleX-Beam type of product that has an active alignment feature to provide a stable output intensity. The intensity stability of an optic-enabled X-ray system becomes more and more important for semiconductor applications which have been ramping up the growing pace in the last few years. I’ve written about this in my whitepaper, Five Things to Consider When Coupling a Polycapillary X-ray Optic With an X-ray Source.
There’s a lot that excites me about the future of X-ray optics, but I’m particularly motivated by the fact that my daily work can help contribute to a better world. The optics that we engineer and manufacture are used in labs all over the world by scientists who are working on cutting-edge technology and research. The work that we help support is something I take great pride in, and it motivates me to move the needle forward when it comes to X-ray optics.
Thank you, Dr. Gao, for taking the time to sit down to discuss the exciting future of X-ray optics. If you’d like to learn more about Dr. Gao and his work, please reach out to the team.
Dr. Ning Gao is a globally recognized expert in X-ray optics and their applications and has over two decades of experience in advanced X-ray optics, particularly in polycapillary X-ray optics. He works closely with XOS customers, from leading OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) in material testing industry to end-users from universities and national labs in pioneering research fields, to find the optimal solutions for their application needs. Dr. Gao is active in analytical X-ray industry community and in collaboration with top scientists on many pioneering research and development projects, including the PIXL instrument on the recently launched Mars Perseverance Rover.