The Bionanoprobe has been developed to study trace elements in frozen-hydrated biological systems with sub-100 nm spatial resolution. Here its performance is demonstrated and first results reported.
Scanning X-ray microscopy focuses radiation to a small spot and probes the sample by raster scanning. It allows information to be obtained from secondary signals such as X-ray fluorescence, which yields an elemental mapping of the sample not available in full-field imaging. The analysis and interpretation from these secondary signals can be considerably enhanced if these data are coupled with structural information from transmission imaging. However, absorption often is negligible and phase contrast has not been easily available. Originally introduced with visible light, Zernike phase contrast1 is a well-established technique in full-field X-ray microscopes for visualization of weakly absorbing samples2–7. On the basis of reciprocity, we demonstrate the implementation of Zernike phase contrast in scanning X-ray microscopy, revealing structural detail simultaneously with hard-X-ray trace-element measurements. The method is straightforward to implement without significant influence on the resolution of the fluorescence images and delivers complementary information. We show images of biological specimens that clearly demonstrate the advantage of correlating morphology with elemental information.
A full-field transmission X-ray microscope (TXM) operating continuously from 5 keV to 12 keV with fluorescence mapping capability has been designed and constructed at the Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility, a first-generation synchrotron radiation facility operating at 2.5 GeV. Spatial resolution better than 30 nm has been demonstrated using a Siemens star pattern in both absorption mode and Zernike phase-contrast mode. A scanning-probe mode fluorescence mapping capability integrated with the TXM has been shown to provide 50 p.p.m. sensitivity for trace elements with a spatial resolution (limited by probing beam spot size) of 20 µm. The optics design, testing of spatial resolution and fluorescence sensitivity are presented here, including performance measurement results.
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