Further progress in the spatial resolution of X-ray microscopes is currently impaired by fundamental limitations in the production of X-ray diffractive lenses. Here, we demonstrate how advanced thin film technologies can be applied to boost the fabrication and characterization of ultrahigh resolution X-ray optics. Specifically, Fresnel zone plates were fabricated by combining electron-beam lithography with atomic layer deposition and focused ion beam induced deposition. They were tested in a scanning transmission X-ray microscope at 1.2 keV photon energy using line pair structures of a sample prepared by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy. For the first time in X-ray microscopy, features below 10 nm in width were resolved.
Magnetic domains have been the subject of much scientific investigation since their theoretical existence was first postulated by P.-E. Weiss over a century ago. Up to now, the three-dimensional (3D) domain structure of bulk magnets has never been observed owing to the lack of appropriate experimental methods. Domain analysis in bulk matter thus remains one of the most challenging tasks in research on magnetic materials. All current domain observation methods are limited to studying surface domains or thin magnetic films. As the properties of magnetic materials are strongly affected by their domain structure, the development of a technique capable of investigating the shape, size and distribution of individual domains in three dimensions is of great importance. Here, we show that the novel technique of Talbot-Lau neutron tomography with inverted geometry enables direct imaging of the 3D network of magnetic domains within the bulk of FeSi crystals.
This paper gives a brief overview on3D imaging of magnetic domains with shearing grating neutron tomography. We investigated the three-dimensional distribution of magnetic domain walls in the bulk of a wedge-shaped FeSi single crystal. The width of the magnetic domains wasanalyzed at different locations within the crystal. Magnetic domains close to the tip of the wedge are much smaller than in the bulk. Furthermore, the three-dimensional shape of individual domains wasinvestigated. We discuss prospects and limitations of the applied measurement technique.
Recent advances in the fabrication of diffractive X-ray optics have boosted hard X-ray microscopy into spatial resolutions of 30 nm and below. Here, we demonstrate the fabrication of zone-doubled Fresnel zone plates for multi-keV photon energies (4-12 keV) with outermost zone widths down to 20 nm. However, the characterization of such elements is not straightforward using conventional methods such as knife edge scans on well-characterized test objects. To overcome this limitation, we have used ptychographic coherent diffractive imaging to characterize a 20 nm-wide X-ray focus produced by a zone-doubled Fresnel zone plate at a photon energy of 6.2 keV. An ordinary scanning transmission X-ray microscope was modified to acquire the ptychographic data from a strongly scattering test object. The ptychographic algorithms allowed for the reconstruction of the image of the test object as well as for the reconstruction of the focused hard X-ray beam waist, with high spatial resolution and dynamic range. This method yields a full description of the focusing performance of the Fresnel zone plate and we demonstrate the usefulness ptychographic coherent diffractive imaging for metrology and alignment of nanofocusing diffractive X-ray lenses.
We have employed ptychographic coherent diffractive imaging to completely characterize the focal spot wavefield and wavefront aberrations of a high-resolution diffractive X-ray lens. The ptychographic data from a strongly scattering object was acquired using the radiation cone emanating from a coherently illuminated Fresnel zone plate at a photon energy of 6.2 keV. Reconstructed images of the object were retrieved with a spatial resolution of 8 nm by combining the difference-map phase retrieval algorithm with a non-linear optimization refinement. By numerically propagating the reconstructed illumination function, we have obtained the X-ray wavefield profile of the 23 nm round focus of the Fresnel zone plate (outermost zone width, Δr = 20 nm) as well as the X-ray wavefront at the exit pupil of the lens. The measurements of the wavefront aberrations were repeatable to within a root mean square error of 0.006 waves, and we demonstrate that they can be related to manufacturing aspects of the diffractive optical element and to errors on the incident X-ray wavefront introduced by the upstream beamline optics.