Patent ID: 6876723

Claim:
A method for measuring the rise time of an x-ray pulse, comprising: providing a dielectric material that has a material property of having zero effective reflectance at a wavelength λ 1 directed onto said dielectric material; directing an x-ray pulse onto an area of said dielectric material to produce a reflectivity change in said dielectric material, wherein said x-ray pulse has sufficient energy to alter the reflectivity of said dielectric material at said wavelength λ 1 , wherein said reflectivity changes from a minimum to a maximum; directing a polarized probe beam at wavelength λ 1 onto said area of said dielectric material as said reflectivity changes to produce a reflected beam, wherein said reflected beam will be reflected at an intensity that is a function of said reflectivity change over time; and detecting and recording the intensity change as a function of time, wherein said intensity change as a function of time corresponds to the rise time of said x-ray pulse.