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We demonstrate the ability to create electron beams with high-contrast, nanometer-scale density modulations as a first step toward developing full control of the phase fronts of an x-ray free-electron laser. The nanopatterned electron beams are produced by diffracting electrons through thin single-crystal silicon membranes that are lithographically patterned to different thicknesses. For transform-limited x-ray production the desired pattern is a series of regularly spaced lines (i.e. a grating) that generate uniformly spaced nanobunches of electrons, however nearly any pattern can be etched in the silicon, such as frequency-chirps or multiple patterns of different colors or line spacings. When these patterns are transferred from the spatial to the temporal dimension by accelerator electromagnetic optics they will control the phase fronts of coherent x-rays, giving unprecedented deterministic control over the phase of ultrashort x-ray pulses. In short, this method allows the time-structure for a fully coherent x-ray beam to be generated from a pattern written on a semiconductor wafer by lithography., Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures

How to form carbon nanoscrolls with the non-uniform curvatures is worthy of a detailed investigation. The first-principles method is suitable in studying the combined effects due to the finite-size confinement, the edge-dependent interactions, the interlayer atomic interactions, the mechanical strains, and the magnetic configurations. The complex mechanisms can induce the unusual essential properties, e.g., the optimal structures, magnetisms, band gaps and energy dispersions. To reach a stable spiral profile, the requirements on the critical nanoribbon width and overlapping length will be thoroughly explored by evaluating the $W$-dependent scrolling energies. A comparison of formation energy between armchair and zigzag nanoscrolls is useful in understanding the experimental characterizations. The spin-up and spin-down distributions near the zigzag edges are examined for their magnetic environments. This accounts for the conservation or destruction of spin degeneracy. The various curved surfaces on a relaxed nanoscroll will create the complicated multi-orbital hybridizations, so that the low-lying energy dispersions and energy gaps are expected to be very sensitive to ribbon width, especially for those of armchair systems. Finally, the planar, curved, folded, scrolled graphene nanoribbons are compared with one another to illustrate the geometry-induced diversity., Comment: For major modification to this manuscript

The geometric and electronic properties of Bi-adsorbed monolayer graphene, enriched by the strong effect of substrate, are investigated by first-principles calculations. The six-layered substrate, corrugated buffer layer, and slightly deformed monolayer graphene are all simulated. Adatom arrangements are thoroughly studied by analyzing the ground-state energies, bismuth adsorption energies, and Bi-Bi interaction energies of different adatom heights, inter-adatom distance, adsorption sites, and hexagonal positions. A hexagonal array of Bi atoms is dominated by the interactions between the buffer layer and the monolayer graphene. An increase in temperature can overcome a $\sim 50$ meV energy barrier and induce triangular and rectangular nanoclusters. The most stable and metastable structures agree with the scanning tunneling microscopy measurements. The density of states exhibits a finite value at the Fermi level, a dip at $\sim -0.2$ eV, and a peak at $\sim -0.6$ eV, as observed in the experimental measurements of the tunneling conductance.

X-ray back diffraction from monolithic two silicon crystal plates of 25--150 um thick and a 40--150 um gap using synchrotron radiation of energy resolution deltaE=0.36 meV at 14.4388 keV shows clearly resonance fringes inside the energy gap and the total-reflection range for the (12 4 0) reflection. This cavity resonance results from the coherent interaction between the X-ray wavefields generated by the two plates with a gap smaller than the X-ray coherence length. This finding opens up new opportunities for high-resolution and phase-contrast X-ray studies, and may lead to new developments in X-ray optics., Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures