Development of zone plates with a blazed profile for hard x-ray applications

Abstract

A linear and a circular zone plate with a blazed zone profile (ZPBP) have been fabricated and characterized using synchrotron x rays. The ZPBPs have significantly improved performances in terms of focusing efficiency and the background near the focus compared to those of a zone plate with a square profile, of which the transmission function can be characterized by a binary square wave. In many respects and practical cases, an x-ray ZPBP may be used in a way analogous to an optical lens in the visible light region. In this article, the experimental characterization of the ZPBPs is presented and some special applications are discussed.

Imaging Cells and Tissues with Refractive Index Radiology

“…In recent years, substantial research efforts drastically improved the lateral resolution and enhanced the contrast in synchrotron-based radiology (Hwu et al, 2002). In principle, radiological images based on hard x ray (wavelength ,1 Å ) achieved sufficient lateral resolution (Yun et al, 1999) and can resolve structures of biological samples down to the cell level. However, such performances have not been demonstrated without sophisticated staining procedures excluding live cells (Yun, 2004).…”

Observation of subnanometre-high surface topography with X-ray reflection phase-contrast microscopy

“…The recent development of X-ray sources and optics has led to new opportunities to image structures and processes using X-ray microscopy 4,8,9,23 . Application of these approaches has been limited, however, to observation of meso-and nanoscopic structures (for example, as small as tens of nanometres) [5][6][7][24][25][26][27] due to limitations in the resolution of X-ray optics.…”

Mapping of a particular element using an absorption edge with an X-ray fluorescence imaging microscope

“…Typical microprobes are Kirkpatrick±Baez mirrors (Eng et al, 1998), capillary tubes (Bilderback et al, 1994), Fresnel zone plates (Yun et al, 1999;Suzuki et al, 1997), Bragg±Fresnel lenses (Snigireva et al, 1997), Wolter mirrors (Aoki et al, 1997) and so on. They are usually used as focusing elements for scanning X-ray¯uorescence microscopes (SXFM), which are very convenient for mapping a particular element.…”