Efficient concentration of high-energy x-rays for diffraction-limited imaging resolution

Julio Cesar da Silva (1) , Alexandra Pacureanu (1) , Yang Yang (1) , Sylvain Bohic (1, 2) , Christian Morawe (1) , Raymond Barrett (1) , Peter Cloetens (1)

1 ESRF - European Synchrotron Radiation Facility
2 GIN - [GIN] Grenoble Institut des Neurosciences

Newly available x-ray nanobeams in synchrotron radiation facilities open new research avenues in the nanosciences. However, a significant challenge is to efficiently concentrate, particularly for high-energy x-rays, a large photon flux into a very small focal spot. Here, we demonstrate for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, a sub-13-nm (FWHM) diffraction-limited x-ray focus size with 6 billion photons per second formed using elliptically figured mirrors operating at 33.6 keV. This is the smallest and brightest focus spot in this high-energy range. We report the results of an x-ray ptychography experiment to characterize the wavefront at the focus position. This offers new opportunities in multidisciplinary fields for x-ray microscopy techniques in which the focal spot size limits the resolution. (C) 2017 Optical Society of America

Domaines: Optique [physics.optics]

Julio Cesar da Silva, Alexandra Pacureanu, Yang Yang, Sylvain Bohic, Christian Morawe, et al.. Efficient concentration of high-energy x-rays for diffraction-limited imaging resolution. Optica, 2017, 4 (5), pp.492-495. ⟨10.1364/OPTICA.4.000492⟩. ⟨hal-01691891⟩