Luxel is the preeminient supplier of submicron foils for the soft X-ray and EUV portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Luxel’s filters have been utilized in the majority of soft X-ray and EUV space astronomy missions flown since the early 1970’s.
Features Include:
- Highest Quality: +/- 1% Transmittance Uniformity
- Visible Light Blocking that is Virtually Pin Hole Free
- Mesh or Polymer Supported or Free Standing Foils
- Wide Clear Apertures
- Ultra High Vacuum (UHV) Compatible
- High Strength
- Withstand Torr-level Pressure Differentials
- Mounted On Standard Two-piece, Conflat, or Custom Frames
- Custom Sizes and Specifications on Request
For filters to perform in the soft X-ray and EUV spectrum, the foils fabricated must be ultra-thin. Filter foils are most often a few hundred angstroms reaching occasionally up to several microns in thickness. Bandpass characteristics and mechanical properties are the two most important factors in determining filter materials. Aluminum is the most commonly used material because it has a wide X-ray bandpass, eliminates visible light, and has excellent mechanical properties.
All filters are extremely fragile, and normally the foils are provided with a fine mesh support. Mesh supported metallic foil filters are typically constructed of electroformed nickel that is 70 lines per inch, which typically transmits about 82%. Other supports are available, most commonly, thin film polyimide.
Standard Filter Performance
Physical characteristics of common composition, thickness, and maximum visible transmittance is available for our standard product line.
Specialty Filters Available
A compilation of our proven special filters, designed, fabricated, and tested to your specifications.
Filter Transmittance Plots For Common Materials
Multi-material plot of our standard, semi-custom, and specialty custom filters. Data is displayed for transmittance (%) plotted against thickness (Å) or Photon Energy (eV).
Standard and Custom Frames
Luxel manufactures three standard frame styles (including mounting in a VAT valve) that are available in several sizes. We will also supply custom filters and windows mounted on your frames.
Custom Development for Special Applications
We pride ourselves on the custom design, development and fabrication of custom filters for your research applications.
The Center for X-Ray Optics (CXRO) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory provides atomic scattering factors for most materials and tools for analyzing X-ray interactions. We routinely use the X-ray transmission of a solid tool for design of custom filters.