Patent Number: 
Section: claims

1. An x-ray beam conditioning system comprising:a Kirkpatrick-Baez side-by-side optic includinga first diffractive element, anda second diffractive element, one diffractive element being a crystal. 2. The x-ray beam conditioning system of claim 1 wherein both diffractive elements are mosaic crystals with high mosaicity and low d-spacing. 3. The x-ray beam directing system of claim 1 wherein the crystal is selected from the group consisting of a perfect crystal and a mosaic crystal and has a low d-spacing. 4. The x-ray beam conditioning system of claim 3 wherein the other diffractive element is a multilayer optic. 5. The x-ray beam conditioning system of claim 3 wherein the other diffractive element is a mosaic crystal with large d-spacing. 6. The x-ray beam conditioning system of claim 1 wherein the diffractive element is a multilayer optic selected from the group consisting of an elliptical mirror and a parabolic mirror and has graded d-spacing. 7. The x-ray beam conditioning system of claim 6 wherein tin graded d-spacing is lateral grading. 8. The x-ray beam conditioning system of claim 6 wherein tin graded d-spaclng is depth grading. 9. The x-ray beam conditioning system of claim 6 wherein tin graded d-spacing is lateral grading and depth grading. 10. The x-ray beam conditioning system 1 wherein at least one diffractive element is an asymmetric Johansson crystal. 11. The x-ray beam conditioning system of claim 1 wherein a: least one diffractive element is a Johanseon crystal, a Johann crystal, or a logarithm crystal. 12. The x-ray beam conditioning system of claim 1 wherein both diffractive elements are equidistant from the origin from where the x-ray beam is emitted. 13. The x-ray beam conditioning system of claim 1 wherein the diffractive elements are located at different distances from the origin from where the x-ray beam is emitted. 14. The x-ray beam conditioning system 1 wherein at least one diffractive element is a crystal with low d-spacing for use in a plane where high convergence is provided. 15. The x-ray beam conditioning system of claim 1 further comprising at least two working corners. 16. The x-ray beam conditioning system of claim 1 further comprlsing an entrance aperture and an exit aperture. 17. An x-ray beam conditioning system comprising:a first crystal with a first active zone, the first crystal being positioned along a beam line in a first reflective plane, the beam line being defined by an x-ray field originating at an origin; anda multilayer reflective element with a second active zone, the reflective element being positioned along the beam line in a second reflective plane that is perpendicular to the first reflective plane, and the first active zone reflecting an incident beam to the second active zone. 18. The x-ray beam conditioning system of claim 17 wherein the crystal and the reflective element define a first center point and a secnd center point, respectively, the first center point and the second center point being equidistant from the origin. 19. The x-ray beam conditioning system of claim 18 wherein the first center point is positioned a first distance from the origin, and the seond center point is positioned a second distance from the origin, the first distance being less than the second distance. 20. The x-ray beam conditioning system of claim 18 wherein the first center point is positioned a first distance from the origin, and the second center point is positioned a second distance from the origin, the first distance being greater than the second distance. 21. The x-ray beam conditioning system of claim 17 wierein the reflective element is a muitilayer optic. 22. The x-ray beam conditioning system of claim 21 wierein the multilayer optic is elliptically curved. 23. The x-ray beam conditioning system of claim 21 wierein the muitilayer optic is parabolically curved. 24. The x-ray beam conditioning system of claim 21 wierein the multilayer optic is spherically curved. 25. The x-ray beam conditioning system of claim 21 wherein the multilayer optic has graded d-spacing. 26. The x-ray beam conditioning system of claim 25 wherein the graded d-spacing is laterally grading. 27. The x-ray beam conditioning system of claim 26 wherein the graded d-spacing is depth grading. 28. The x-ray beam conditioning system of claim 26 wherein the graded d-spacing is lateral grading and depth grading.