On X-ray polarization spectroscopy with a Baronova-Stepanenko-type crystal.

Certain crystals can split an X-ray's two linear polarization directions by reflecting them equally in two different directions. This paper gives a simple geometrical derivation for the necessary condition identified recently by Baronova and Stepanenko, namely, identical crystal planes under 120○, or three-fold symmetry. An X-ray spectropolarimeter with such polarization-splitting crystals would be particularly useful to diagnose anisotropies in hot, dense plasmas created by intense picosecond lasers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]