This proposal is to construct a prototype tunable, monochromatic, focused transition radiation soft x-ray source for spectroscopy. This new source promises the intensity and tunability of a synchrotron source at one-tenth of the cost. Conventional line sources, the only existing alternative to synchrotron sources, can provide a high intensity at selected energies. However, line sources provide neither the tunability nor the small photon spot size of a focused transition radiation source. This new source offers the prospect of a laboratory scale, intense, tunable, soft x-ray source for the materials analysis and biological research community.
