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Microfocusing of 100 keV x ray with a sputtered-sliced Fresnel zone plate (ss-FZP) has been performed at the 250-m-long beamline (20XU) of SPring-8. The ss-FZP with an outermost zone width 0.16 μm which is composed of 70 layers of alternating Cu and Al layers and having thickness ∼180 μm was fabricated and characterized. The minimum focal spot size attained for the first order focal beam was 0.5 μm with a focal distance 900 mm at a photon energy 100 keV. The total flux of the microprobe was ∼2×106 photons s−1 μm−2.

An x-ray microtomography method combined with hard x-ray imaging microscopy was developed that has a potential spatial resolution of the order of 10–100 nm. The system consists of a high-brilliance undulator source of SPring-8, a beam diffuser plate to reduce the coherence of the illumination, a high-precision rotating sample stage, a Fresnel zone plate objective, and a high-resolution x-ray imaging detector. The three-dimensional images of several samples were observed and successfully reconstructed with a pitch pattern of 0.6 μm.

Full-field x-ray scattering microscopic images were obtained with a Wolter mirror (×10 magnification). A synchrotron radiation white beam (4–20 keV) from a bending magnet beamline at the Photon Factory was used to obtain x-ray scattering images. The system was available for multi-kilo-electron-volt x-ray range (4–12 keV) with the Wolter mirror. The image was formed only with scattered x rays from the object, which is kind of a dark-field image. Very low absorptive materials could be imaged with this microscope. Sensitivity of the system was evaluated and also the detection limit was estimated.

The intensity distribution in phase space of an X-ray synchrotron radiation beamline was measured using a pinhole camera method, in order to verify astigmatism compensation by a Fresnel zone plate focusing optical system. The beamline is equipped with a silicon double crystal monochromator. The beam size and divergence at an arbitrary distance were estimated. It was found that the virtual source point was largely different between the vertical and horizontal directions, which is probably caused by thermal distortion of the monochromator crystal. The result is consistent with our astigmatism compensation by inclining a Fresnel zone plate.

Full-field x-ray fluorescence (XRF) and transmission x-ray microscopic images were obtained with a Wolter-type mirror (10× magnification). A synchrotron radiation white beam (4–20 keV) from a bending magnet beamline at the Photon Factory was used to obtain XRF images and a conventional laboratory x-ray source (8.04 keV) was used to obtain transmission x-ray images. The effects of the coherent and the incoherent scattering x rays on the contrast of an XRF image were estimated. The scattering angle between the incidence x ray and the optical axis of the XRF microscope should be 90° to obtain the highest contrast image when the incidence x ray is horizontally polarized. Observation of small metallic inclusions in the synthesized diamond showed that the contrast of the XRF image was better than that of the transmission x-ray image.

An imaging microscopy experiment in a hard x-ray region has been performed at the undulator beamline 40XU of SPring-8. The helical undulator at the BL40XU provides quasimonochromatic radiation with a bandwidth of 1.2% at 8.34 keV. A Fresnel zone plate with an outermost zone width of 0.25 μm and a Fresnel zone number of 100 is used as an objective. The natural bandwidth of the undulator radiation of BL40XU is nearly equal to the monochromaticity required for the zone plate objective. Therefore, compared with conventional beamlines with a crystal monochromator, the available photon flux is higher by two orders. Fine structure of test patterns with 0.25 μm line and space was clearly observed at an x-ray energy of 8.34 keV within an exposure time of 1.5 ms.

X-ray topographs are taken for a sapphire wafer with the [0001] surface normal, as an example, by forward transmitted synchrotron x-ray beams combined with two-dimensional electronic arrays in the x-ray detector having a spatial resolution of 1 μm. They exhibit no shape deformation and no position shift of the dislocation lines on the topographs. Since the topography is performed under multiple-beam diffraction conditions, the topographic images of a single diffraction (two-wave approximation condition) or plural diffractions (six-wave approximation condition) can be recorded without large specimen position changes. As usual Lang topographs, it is possible to determine the Burgers vector of each dislocation line. Because of high parallelism of the incoming x-rays and linear sensitivity of the electronic arrays to the incident x-rays, the present technique can be used to visualize individual dislocations in single crystals of the dislocation density as high as 1 × 10(5) cm(-2).

An experiment to focus 82 keV x rays with a sputtered-sliced Fresnel zone plate (SS-FZP) optics was performed at an x-ray undulator beamline 20XU of SPring-8. The achieved beam size was 1.1 μm in vertical and 1.3 μm in horizontal directions. The measured flux density was 7×105 (photons/s/μm2).

Microfocusing optics with total reflection mirrors has been constructed, and a performance test in the hard x-ray region has been carried out. The material of the mirror is fused quartz, and parabolic surface figures are fabricated by the bent-polishing method. The reflective surface is coated with platinum. By configuring two parabolic mirrors in the Kirkpatrick-Baez optics, a focused beam size of 150nm in the vertical direction ×110nm in the horizontal direction has been achieved at an x-ray energy of 12keV. A focused beam size of smaller than 300nm is obtained within an x-ray energy range of 8–28keV. In a performance test of the scanning microscope, fine periodic structures with a line pitch of 140nm are clearly resolved. Diffraction limit and modulation transfer function of these focusing optics are discussed.