Bragg backscattering from perfect crystals is a tool for creating, manipulating, and analysing x-rays with highest spectral purity. It has the unique feature of selecting x-rays with narrow spectral bandwidth. This book describes the theoretical foundations and principles of x-ray crystal optics with high spectral resolution.

The use of x rays has moved in the forefront of science and technology in the second half of the 20th century. This progress has been greatly stimulated by the advent of synchrotron x-ray sources in the 1960s. The undulator-based synchrotron radiation sources which have appeared in the last decade of the 20th century gave a new impetus to such development. The brilliance of the x-ray sources has increased by 12 orders of magnitude in 40 years and this trend does not show any signs of stagnation. The future x-ray sources of the 21th century based on free-electron lasers driven by linear...