MISTRAL: a transmission soft X-ray microscopy beamline for cryo nano-tomography of biological samples and magnetic domains imaging

Abstract

The performance of MISTRAL is reported, the soft X-ray transmission microscopy beamline at the ALBA light source (Barcelona, Spain) which is primarily dedicated to cryo soft X-ray tomography (cryo-SXT) for three-dimensional visualization of whole unstained cells at spatial resolutions down to 30 nm (half pitch). Short acquisition times allowing for high-throughput and correlative microscopy studies have promoted cryo-SXT as an emerging cellular imaging tool for structural cell biologists bridging the gap between optical and electron microscopy. In addition, the beamline offers the possibility of imaging magnetic domains in thin magnetic films that are illustrated here with an example.

Phase retrieval by coherent modulation imaging

“…The development of single-shot diffraction imaging techniques in combination with the ultrashort pulses of highly brilliant XFEL sources is a promising method to record the diffraction pattern of biological samples before the radiation damage reveals itself. On one hand, it is complementary to current efforts to add cryogenic capabilities to existing ptychographic coherent diffraction imaging47 and X-ray microscopy systems4849 to preserve the state of radiation-sensitive samples during data acquisition. On the other hand, the single-shot capability offers the possibility to study ultrafast dynamical processes with a temporal resolution limit only determined by the pulse structure of the light source and the rate at which the detector can acquire successive diffraction patterns.…”

Photoinduced p‐ to n‐type Switching in Thermoelectric Polymer‐Carbon Nanotube Composites

“…TXM was conducted at the MISTRAL beamline at the ALBA synchrotron. [ 59,60 ] For this, samples were drop-cast onto copper grids.…”

Observation of asymmetric distributions of magnetic singularities across magnetic multilayers

“…Samples A and B were imaged at zero field by the full field transmission soft x-ray microscope of the Mistral Beam line at ALBA Synchrotron described elsewhere [28,33,34]. Element-specific magnetic dichroic images were acquired by tuning the circularly polarized photon beam energy to the Fe L 3 (706.8 eV), Nd M 4 (1000.3 eV), and Gd M 5 (1189.6 eV) atomic absorption edges in order to probe the magnetization of top, central, or bottom layers, respectively, which allowed us to image the magnetic domains at the upper, central, and lower part of the multilayer.…”