Olga Kurapova

Hard x-ray nanoprobe based on refractive x-ray lenses

Based on nanofocusing refractive x-ray lenses a hard x-ray scanning microscope is currently being developed and is being implemented at beamline ID13 of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (Grenoble, France). It can be operated in transmission, fluorescence, and diffraction mode. Tomographic scanning allows one to determine the inner structure of a specimen. In this device, a monochromatic (E=21keV) hard x-ray nanobeam with a lateral extension of 47×55nm2 was generated. Further reduction of the beam size to below 20 nm is targeted.

Nanofocusing parabolic refractive X-ray lenses

Parabolic refractive x-ray lenses with short focal distance can generate intensive hard x-ray microbeams with lateral extensions in the 100 nm range even at a short distance from a synchrotron radiation source. We have fabricated planar parabolic lenses made of silicon that have a focal distance in the range of a few millimeters at hard x-ray energies. In a crossed geometry, two lenses were used to generate a microbeam with a lateral size of 380 nm by 210 nm at 25 keV in a distance of 42 m from the synchrotron radiation source. Using diamond as the lens material, microbeams with a lateral size down to 20 nm and below are conceivable in the energy range from 10 to 100 keV.

Refractive x-ray lenses

Parabolic refractive x-ray lenses are novel optical components for the hard x-ray range from about 5 keV to about 120 keV. They are compact, robust, and easy to align and to operate. They can be used like glass lenses are used for visible light, the main difference being that the numerical aperture is much smaller than 1 (of the order of 10−4–10−3). They have been developed at Aachen University and are made of beryllium, boron, aluminium and silicon. Their main applications are in micro- and nanofocusing, in imaging by absorption and phase contrast. In combination with tomography they allow for three-dimensional imaging of opaque media with sub-micrometre resolution. Finally, they can be used in speckle spectroscopy by means of coherent x-ray scattering. References to a number of applications are given.

Beryllium parabolic refractive x-ray lenses

Recently, we have been able to fabricate high quality parabolic refractive x-ray lenses made of beryllium. We report first experimental results in both full field microscopy and microbeam production using these new lenses. In full field microscopy, undistorted images of test patterns were recorded in a field of view of 450 μm full width half maximum at 12keV with 10 fold magnification. A significant improvement of the lateral resolution as compared to imaging with aluminium refractive lenses was achieved. Microbeam characteristics were determined at 12keV demagnifying a high β undulator source 82 times. The lateral beam size was measured by fluorescence knife-edge. Microbeam characteristics, such as flux, lateral beam size, and low intensity background are discussed.

Hard X‐Ray Nanoprobe based on Refractive X‐Ray Lenses

At synchrotron radiation sources, parabolic refractive x‐ray lenses allow one to built both full field and scanning microscopes in the hard x‐ray range. The latter microscope can be operated in transmission, fluorescence, and diffraction mode, giving chemical, elemental, and structural contrast. For scanning microscopy, a small and intensive microbeam is required. Parabolic refractive x‐ray lenses with a focal distance in the centimeter range, so‐called nanofocusing lenses (NFLs), can generate hard x‐ray nanobeams in the range of 100 nm and below, even at short distances, i. e., 40 to 70 m from the source. Recently, a 47 × 55 nm2 beam with 1.7 ⋅ 108 ph/s at 21 keV (monochromatic, Si 111) was generated using silicon NFLs in crossed geometry at a distance of 47m from the undulator source at beamline ID13 of ESRF. This beam is not diffraction limited, and smaller beams may become available in the future. Lenses made of more transparent materials, such as boron or diamond, could yield an increase in flux of o...

Optimized fabrication of silicon nanofocusing x-ray lenses using deep reactive ion etching

The authors describe an improved production route for silicon nanofocusing lenses for hard x rays using e-beam lithography and deep reactive ion etching. As compared to previous prototypes, these optics have a significantly improved from fidelity, reducing spherical aberrations. Close to an ideal performance for the focusing of hard x rays is achieved with these optics, reaching a lateral beam size of about 50nm. The lens profile is checked by scanning electron microscopy.

Nanofocusing Parabolic Refractive X-Ray Lenses

Parabolic refractive x‐ray lenses with short focal distance can generate intensive hard x‐ray microbeams with lateral extensions in the 100nm range even at short distance from a synchrotron radiation source. We have fabricated planar parabolic lenses made of silicon that have a focal distance in the range of a few millimeters at hard x‐ray energies. In a crossed geometry, two lenses were used to generate a microbeam with a lateral size of 330nm by 110nm at 25keV in a distance of 41.8m from the synchrotron radiation source. First microdiffraction and fluorescence microtomography experiments were carried out with these lenses. Using diamond as lens material, microbeams with lateral size down to 20nm and below are conceivable in the energy range from 10 to 100keV.

Fluorescence microtomography using nanofocusing refractive x-ray lenses

Fluorescence microtomography is a hard x-ray scanning microscopy technique that has been developed at synchrotron radiation sources in recent years. It allows one to reconstruct non-destructively the element distribution on a virtual section inside a sample. The spatial resolution of this microbeam technique is limited by the lateral size of the microbeam. Since recently, nanofocusing refractive x-ray lenses (NFLs) are under development that were shown to produce hard x-ray microbeams with lateral resolution in the range of 100nm. Future improvements of these optics might reduce the microbeam size down to below 20nm. Using nanofocusing lenses, fluorescence microtomography with sub-micrometer resolution was performed. As an example, the element distribution inside a small cosmic dust particle is given. Tomographic reconstruction was done using a refined model including absorption effects inside the sample.

Full-field and scanning microtomography based on parabolic refractive x-ray lenses

Hard x-ray full field and scanning microscopy both greatly benefit from recent advances in x-ray optics. In full field microscopy, for instance, rotationally parabolic refractive x-ray lenses can be used as objective lens in a hard x-ray microscope, magnifying an object onto a detector free of distortion. Using beryllium as lens material, a hard x-ray optical resolution of about 100 nm has been obtained in a field of view of more than 500 micrometers. Further improvement of the spatial resolution to below 50 nm is expected. By reconstructing the sample from a series of micrographs recorded from different perspectives, tomographic imaging with a resolution well below one micrometer was achieved. The technique is demonstrated using a microchip as test sample. In scanning microscopy and tomography, the sample is scanned through a hard x-ray microbeam. Different hard x-ray analytical techniques can be exploited as contrast mechanism, such as x-ray fluorescence, absorption, or scattering. In tomographic scanning mode, they yield for example local elemental, chemical, or structural information from inside a specimen. At synchrotron radiation sources, a small and intensive microbeam can be generated by imaging the source onto the sample position in a strongly reducing geometry, e.g., by parabolic refractive x-ray lenses. With nanofocusing refractive x-ray lenses, a lateral beam size of 50 nm was reached. As an example for scanning tomography, we consider tomographic small angle x-ray scattering (SAXS-tomography), reconstructing a series of SAXS patterns related to small volume elements inside a polymer rod made by injection moulding.

Nanofocusing parabolic refractive x-ray lenses

Parabolic refractive x-ray lenses with short focal distance can generate intensive hard x-ray microbeams with lateral extensions in the 100nm range even at short distance from a synchrotron radiation source. We have fabricated planar parabolic lenses made of silicon that have a focal distance in the range of a few millimeters at hard x-ray energies. In a crossed geometry, two lenses were used to generate a microbeam with a lateral size of 160nm by 115nm at 15.2keV at a distance of 47m from the synchrotron radiation source. First microdiffraction and fluorescence microtomography experiments were carried out with these lenses. Using diamond and boron as lens material, microbeams with lateral size down to 20nm and below are conceivable in the energy range from 10 to 100keV.