Kenneth Lauer

11 nm hard X-ray focus from a large-aperture multilayer Laue lens

The focusing performance of a multilayer Laue lens (MLL) with 43.4 μm aperture, 4 nm finest zone width and 4.2 mm focal length at 12 keV was characterized with X-rays using ptychography method. The reconstructed probe shows a full-width-at-half-maximum (FWHM) peak size of 11.2 nm. The obtained X-ray wavefront shows excellent agreement with the dynamical calculations, exhibiting aberrations less than 0.3 wave period, which ensures the MLL capable of producing a diffraction-limited focus while offering a sufficient working distance. This achievement opens up opportunities of incorporating a variety of in-situ experiments into ultra high-resolution X-ray microscopy studies.

Pushing the limits: an instrument for hard X-ray imaging below 20 nm

Hard X-ray microscopy is a prominent tool suitable for nanoscale-resolution non-destructive imaging of various materials used in different areas of science and technology. With an ongoing effort to push the 2D/3D imaging resolution down to 10 nm in the hard X-ray regime, both the fabrication of nano-focusing optics and the stability of the microscope using those optics become extremely challenging. In this work a microscopy system designed and constructed to accommodate multilayer Laue lenses as nanofocusing optics is presented. The developed apparatus has been thoroughly characterized in terms of resolution and stability followed by imaging experiments at a synchrotron facility. Drift rates of ∼2 nm h(-1) accompanied by 13 nm × 33 nm imaging resolution at 11.8 keV are reported.

Multimodality hard-x-ray imaging of a chromosome with nanoscale spatial resolution.

We developed a scanning hard x-ray microscope using a new class of x-ray nano-focusing optic called a multilayer Laue lens and imaged a chromosome with nanoscale spatial resolution. The combination of the hard x-ray’s superior penetration power, high sensitivity to elemental composition, high spatial-resolution and quantitative analysis creates a unique tool with capabilities that other microscopy techniques cannot provide. Using this microscope, we simultaneously obtained absorption-, phase-, and fluorescence-contrast images of Pt-stained human chromosome samples. The high spatial-resolution of the microscope and its multi-modality imaging capabilities enabled us to observe the internal ultra-structures of a thick chromosome without sectioning it.

Fly-scan ptychography

We report an experimental ptychography measurement performed in fly-scan mode. With a visible-light laser source, we demonstrate a 5-fold reduction of data acquisition time. By including multiple mutually incoherent modes into the incident illumination, high quality images were successfully reconstructed from blurry diffraction patterns. This approach significantly increases the throughput of ptychography, especially for three-dimensional applications and the visualization of dynamic systems.

Achieving hard X-ray nanofocusing using a wedged multilayer Laue lens

We report on the fabrication and the characterization of a wedged multilayer Laue lens for x-ray nanofocusing. The lens was fabricated using a sputtering deposition technique, in which a specially designed mask was employed to introduce a thickness gradient in the lateral direction of the multilayer. X-ray characterization shows an efficiency of 27% and a focus size of 26 nm at 14.6 keV, in a good agreement with theoretical calculations. These results indicate that the desired wedging is achieved in the fabricated structure. We anticipate that continuous development on wedged MLLs will advance x-ray nanofocusing optics to new frontiers and enrich capabilities and opportunities for hard X-ray microscopy.

Design and performance of an X-ray scanning microscope at the Hard X-ray Nanoprobe beamline of NSLS-II

A hard X-ray scanning microscope installed at the Hard X-ray Nanoprobe beamline of the National Synchrotron Light Source II has been designed, constructed and commissioned. The microscope relies on a compact, high stiffness, low heat dissipation approach and utilizes two types of nanofocusing optics. It is capable of imaging with ∼15 nm × 15 nm spatial resolution using multilayer Laue lenses and 25 nm × 26 nm resolution using zone plates. Fluorescence, diffraction, absorption, differential phase contrast, ptychography and tomography are available as experimental techniques. The microscope is also equipped with a temperature regulation system which allows the temperature of a sample to be varied in the range between 90 K and 1000 K. The constructed instrument is open for general users and offers its capabilities to the material science, battery research and bioscience communities.

A high‐precision instrument for mapping of rotational errors in rotary stages

A rotational stage is a key component of every X-ray instrument capable of providing tomographic or diffraction measurements. To perform accurate three-dimensional reconstructions, runout errors due to imperfect rotation (e.g. circle of confusion) must be quantified and corrected. A dedicated instrument capable of full characterization and circle of confusion mapping in rotary stages down to the sub-10 nm level has been developed. A high-stability design, with an array of five capacitive sensors, allows simultaneous measurements of wobble, radial and axial displacements. The developed instrument has been used for characterization of two mechanical stages which are part of an X-ray microscope.

Advanced multilayer Laue lens fabrication at NSLS-II

In an ongoing effort to advance the state of the art in x-ray nanofocusing optics [1], multilayer Laue lens (MLL) [2,3] fabrication at NSLS-II has matured to include multi-gas reactive sputtering for stress and interfacial roughness reduction, which has recently led to a 70 micron thick single-growth MLL. Reactive sputtering was found to produce WSi2/Si multilayers with an accumulated film stress significantly lower than Ar-only deposition with identical growth conditions. Significant effort has been focused on the achievement of highly-stable gas mixing and process gas pressure measurement for multilayer growth and the problems faced along with implemented solutions will be discussed in detail. Proper layer thickness and placement throughout the stack presents a major obstacle to the fabrication of high-quality nanofocusing MLLs. Initial metrology of extremely thick MLLs by stitching many scanning electron microscope images was found to be greatly simplified by inclusion of marker labels within the stack.

Nm-scale spatial resolution X-ray imaging with MLL nanofocusing optics: Instrumentational requirements and challenges

The Hard X-ray Nanoprobe (HXN) beamline at NSLS-II has been designed and constructed to enable imaging experiments with unprecedented spatial resolution and detection sensitivity. The HXN X-ray Microscope is a key instrument for the beamline, providing a suite of experimental capabilities which includes scanning fluorescence, diffraction, differential phase contrast and ptychography utilizing Multilayer Laue Lenses (MLL) and zoneplate (ZP) as nanofocusing optics. We present technical requirements for the MLL-based scanning microscope, outline the development concept and present first ∼15 × 15 nm2 spatial resolution x-ray fluorescence images.

Piezo control for 1 nm spatial resolution synchrotron X-ray microscopy

A novel motion control system which utilizes the Power PMAC controller from Delta Tau Data Systems Inc., has been developed for positioning with 1 nm spatial resolution. Present work is a significant step forward towards commissioning of the X-ray microscope which will operate at the Hard X-ray Nanoprobe (HXN) beamline at the NSLS-II. The control system is capable of performing high-speed / high-accuracy on-the-fly scans of the sample with respect to the nano-focusing optics e.g. Multilayer Laue Lenses (MLL) or Fresnel X-ray Zone Plates (ZP) [1]. The Power PMAC controls piezoelectric-based nano-positioning stages using piezo-expansion for short range motion and stick-slip motion for longer travel distances. An EPICS interface to the Power PMAC has been developed allowing for easy integration into a beamline control environment.