Laboratory soft x-ray source with foil target

We have developed a comparatively small soft x-ray source for application in our test facilities, which are used at present to support the developments of the astrophysical space projects XMM and AXAF. The instrument comprises a commercially available color television tube for generation of the electron beam, which is focused on exchangeable metal films serving as targets. The x rays are taken off after having transversed the foil target and have a sufficient spectral purity with regard to the experimental requirements. The maximum electric operating parameters correspond to an emission current of 100 (mu) A generated by a filament heating power of 6.6 watt at an accelerating voltage of 25 kV. The technical advantages of the instrument are lightweight construction, no water cooling, small size electric supply, cost efficient manufacturing, small sized focus, and quick access to the desired characteristic spectral line by exchange of a complete tube. We describe the measurements on the local x-ray intensity profile of the focus, the spectral features of the beam, and present the resulting performance data. A special development could be used as calibration sources in x-ray telescopes.