The design and performance of a spherically bent crystal x-ray spectrometer with variable curvature are given. A thin crystal with the diffracting planes parallel to the face is mounted on a vacuum chuck consisting of an O-ring in a brass mounting. A controlled partial vacuum is applied behind the crystal to cause spherical deformation of the lattice. Thus, rays from a point source on the focusing circle are diffracted to a line image also on the focusing circle. The differential pressure is automatically varied such that the source-to-crystal and crystal-to-image distances are equal and constant for all Bragg angles and hence the simple θ-2θ motion of a one flat crystal spectrometer is used.

The data are accumulated by a scanning proportional counter tube placed behind a vertical slit (perpendicular to the scattering plane) located at the image line. The fixed chord length is 22 cm and the instrument is designed to scan from zero up to 120° 2θ. Crystals are easily interchanged and the automatic vacuum regulator has sufficient flexibility to allow tailoring the spherical bending to crystals of materials of various thicknesses. The resolution is easily adjusted by either the size of the x-ray source or the width of the detector slit. The performance of the spectrometer has been evaluated by characteristic x-rays produced by various samples placed in a demountable x-ray tube. The main advantages of this three-dimensional focusing instrument are the very high signal-to-noise ratio and the very low levels of x-ray flux required.