PIER Photon Science Colloquium: X-ray microscopy: Sharp views into the nanocosmos

by Christian Schroer (DESY/Universität Hamburg)

Friday 17 Oct 2014, 14:00 → 15:00 Europe/Berlin

CFEL, Bldg. 99 (DESY Hamburg)

A key strength of microscopy with X-rays is to image the inside of an object without destructive sample preparation. But despite the short wavelength of X-rays that lies in the range of interatomic distances, it is not possible today to resolve single atoms. This is mainly due to the weak interaction of X-rays with matter that limits the numerical aperture of X-ray optics and thus the spatial resolution in the X-ray microscope. One solution to overcome this limitation is to avoid imaging optics altogether and scan the sample with a small coherent X-ray beam, capture the scattered light from the sample at each scan point with an area detector, and use these data to numerically reconstruct the sample. Following this scheme, I discuss a route to sub-nanometer resolution in X-ray microscopy.