XPCS-Echo and broad relaxation measurements using a bunch-mode data acquisition scheme

Abstract

Echoes observed in the intensity-intensity autocorrelation functions [$g_2(q, \tau)$] is a powerful method for probing nonaffine deformations and yielding behavior of soft viscoelastic materials subjected to an oscillatory shear. Multispeckle X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy (XPCS) measurements of large number of echoes with high time resolution impose severe constraints in terms of the computational hardware and potential degradation of the sample. These issues are alleviated by implementing a bunch-mode data acquisition scheme in which the highest resolution frames or bunches centered at the echo peaks. In addition, by placing the bunches in an aperiodic Fibonacci sequence, $g_2(q, \tau)$ over a long time span can be measured with orders of magnitude lesser number of frames. The performance of these XPCS acquisition schemes is demonstrated using slowly relaxing model colloidal suspensions. Furthermore, an analytical expression is provided for the quantitative description of full $g_2(q, \tau)$.