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In situ wavefront compensation is a promising method to realize a focus size of only a few nanometers for x-ray beams. However, precise compensation requires evaluation of the wavefront with an accuracy much shorter than the wavelength. Here, we characterized a one-dimensionally focused beam with a width of 7 nm at 20 keV using a multilayer mirror. We demonstrate that the wavefront can be determined precisely from multiple intensity profiles measured around the beamwaist. We compare the phase profiles recovered from intensity profiles measured under the same mirror condition but with three different aperture sizes and find that the accuracy of phase retrieval is as small as λ/12. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we designed, fabricated, and evaluated a hard x-ray focusing mirror having an ideally focused beam with a full width at half maximum in the intensity profile of 36 nm at an x-ray energy of 15 keV. The designed elliptically curved shape was fabricated by a computer-controlled fabrication system using plasma chemical vaporization machining and elastic emission machining, on the basis of surface profiles accurately measured by combining microstitching interferometry with relative angle determinable stitching interferometry. A platinum-coated surface was employed for hard x-ray focusing with a large numerical aperture. Line-focusing tests on the fabricated elliptical mirror are carried out at the 1-km-long beamline of SPring-8. A full width at half maximum of 40 nm was achieved in the focused beam intensity profile under the best focus conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metrology plays an important role in surface figuring with subnanometer accuracy. We have developed relative angle determinable stitching interferometry for the surface figuring of elliptical mirrors, in order to realize hard x-ray nanofocusing. In a stitching system, stitching angles are determined not by the general method using a common area between neighboring shots, but by the new method using the mirror’s tilt angles measured at times when profile data are acquired. The high measurement accuracy of approximately 4 nm (peak-to-valley) was achieved in the measurement of a cylindrical surface having the same curvature as the elliptically designed shape to enable hard x-ray nanofocusing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanofocused x rays are indispensable because they can provide high spatial resolution and high sensitivity for x-ray nanoscopy/spectroscopy. A focusing system using total reflection mirrors is one of the most promising methods for producing nanofocused x rays due to its high efficiency and energy-tunable focusing. The authors have developed a fabrication system for hard x-ray mirrors by developing elastic emission machining, microstitching interferometry, and relative angle determinable stitching interferometry. By using an ultraprecisely figured mirror, they realized hard x-ray line focusing with a beam width of 25 nm at 15 keV. The focusing test was performed at the 1-km-long beamline of SPring-8. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]