Multi-beam ptychography with coded Fresnel zone plates

Abstract

X-ray ptychography is often implemented for nanoimaging at synchrotron radiation sources and extensions are being developed to make experiments faster. This work is on multi-beam ptychography with Fresnel zone plates that have a small lateral separation, enabling the imaging of an extended field of view without increasing exposure time. Sectional zone inversion is implemented for coding respective probes and up to three Fresnel zone plates are successfully used in parallel. The speed-up achieved, compared to single beam ptychography, is linear with the number of probes. The combination of versatility of the fabrication process for the Fresnel zone plates and performance enhancement by scanning in multi-beam mode makes this an optimal solution for studying samples fast and obtaining enlarged fields of view.