Faster scanning and higher resolution: new setup for multilayer zone plate imaging

Markus Osterhoff; Jakob Soltau; Christian Eberl; Hans-Ulrich Krebs

doi:10.1117/12.2271141

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7 September 2017 Faster scanning and higher resolution: new setup for multilayer zone plate imaging

Markus Osterhoff, Jakob Soltau, Christian Eberl, Hans-Ulrich Krebs

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Proceedings Volume 10389, X-Ray Nanoimaging: Instruments and Methods III; 103890T (2017) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2271141
Event: SPIE Optical Engineering + Applications, 2017, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

Hard x-ray imaging methods are routinely used in two and three spatial dimensions to tackle challenging scientific questions of the 21st century, e.g. catalytic processes in energy research and bio-physical experiments on the single-cell level [1–3]. Among the most important experimental techniques are scanning SAXS to probe the local orientation of filaments and fluorescence mapping to quantify the local composition. The routinely available spot size has been reduced to few tens of nanometres; but the real-space resolution of these techniques can degrade by (i) vibration or drift, and (ii) spreading of beam damage, especially for soft condensed matter on small length scales. We have recently developed new Multilayer Zone Plate (MZP) optics for focusing hard (14 keV) and very hard (60 keV to above 100 keV) x-rays down to spot sizes presumably on 5 or 10nm scale. Here we report on recent progress on a new MZP based sample scanner, and how to tackle beam damage spread. The Eiger detector synchronized to a piezo scanner enables to scan in a 2D continuous mode fields of view larger than 20μm squared, or for high resolution down to (virtual) pixel sizes of below 2nm, in about three minutes for 255×255 points (90 seconds after further improvements). Nano-SAXS measurements with more than one million real-space pixels, each containing a full diffraction image, can be carried out in less than one hour, as we have shown using a Siemens star test pattern.

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Markus Osterhoff, Jakob Soltau, Christian Eberl, and Hans-Ulrich Krebs "Faster scanning and higher resolution: new setup for multilayer zone plate imaging", Proc. SPIE 10389, X-Ray Nanoimaging: Instruments and Methods III, 103890T (7 September 2017); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2271141

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