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Reducing the considerable non-communicable disease (NCD) burden in the aging Japanese population depends on better understanding of the comorbid and temporal relationships between different NCDs.We aimed to identify associations between NCDs and temporal patterns of NCDs in Japan using data from a large medical claims database.The study used three-digit International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision codes for NCDs for employees and their dependents included in the MinaCare database, which covers the period since 2010. Associations between pairs of NCDs were assessed by calculating risk ratios. The calculated risk ratios were used to create a network of closely associated NCDs (risk ratio15, statistically significant) and to assess temporal patterns of NCD diagnoses (risk ratio ≥ 5). The Infomap algorithm was used to identify clusters of diseases for different sex and age strata.The analysis included 4,200,254 individuals (age65 years: 98%). Many of the temporal associations and patterns of the diseases of interest identified in this study were previously known. Regarding the diseases of interest, these associations can be classified as comorbidities, early manifestations initially diagnosed as something else, diseases attributable to or that cause the disease of interest, or caused by pharmacological treatment. International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision chapters that were most associated with other chapters included L Diseases of the skin and subcutaneous tissue. In the age-stratified and gender-stratified networks, clusters with the highest numbers of International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision codes included I Diseases of the circulatory system and F Mental and behavioral disorders.Our findings reinforce established associations between NCDs and underline the importance of comprehensive NCD care.

A field-curvature-corrected imaging optical system for x-ray microscopy using only grazing-incidence mirrors is proposed. It combines a Wolter type I (WO1) mirror pair, which forms a real image, with field curvature correction (FCC) optics—a convex hyperbolic mirror pair—that form a virtual image; compensation of the field curvatures realizes a wide field-of-view (FOV) and high magnification. Ray-tracing and wave-optics simulations verified the efficacy of the design, for which a FOV width was 111 µm—4.7 times larger than that for the uncorrected WO1 design. The addition of FCC optics also produced a 2.3-fold increase in magnification.

ObjectiveTo assess the potential benefit of a behavioural change programme in working individuals with chronic pain or headache, in the form of increased physician consultation.DesignRetrospective observational database study.SettingMembers of employment-based healthcare insurance in Japan.ParticipantsIndividual-level data of working individuals aged Outcome measuresPhysician consultation rates after participating in the programme were examined from December 2019 through March 2020, separately for chronic pain and headache. Baseline characteristics included age, pain numeric rating scale (NRS) score (for chronic pain), suspected migraine (for headache), labour productivity including absenteeism and presenteeism, and 4-month indirect costs in Japanese yen (JPY).ResultsThe baseline mean age (±SD) of 506 individuals with chronic pain was 46.8±10.1 years; that of 352 individuals with headache was 43.6±9.9 years. Of those with chronic pain, 71.4% had an NRS score≥4, and 49.7% of those with headache had suspected migraine. Overall, 11.3% and 5.4% of those with chronic pain or headache consulted physicians, respectively. The mean baseline absenteeism and presenteeism were 1.5% and 19.1% in those with chronic pain, and 1.5% and 23.0% in those with headache. The baseline indirect costs were 586 941.6 JPY and 1 060 281.6 JPY among those with chronic pain or headache, respectively.ConclusionGiven that the individuals did not regularly consult physicians before the programme despite reporting substantial symptoms, our results suggest the potential benefit of educational programmes encouraging physician consultation. Further studies are required to evaluate how to effectively implement such educational programmes via healthcare insurers to reduce the burden of pain symptoms and overall medical costs.

Properties of macrophages and lymphocytes appearing in renal fibrosis remains to be investigated. F344 rats were injected once a week with cisplatin (2 mg/kg body weight) for 8 weeks and examined at post-final injection weeks 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12. Rats developed progressive renal fibrosis at weeks 1 to 6 as fibrosis-progress phase, and subsequent amelioration at weeks 9 and 12. CD68+ M1-macrophages and major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II+ macrophages remarkably increased persistently, whereas CD163+ M2-macrophages slightly increased. MHC class II+/CD68+ and MHC class II+/CD163+ macrophages were present, indicating that MHC class II+ macrophages might have both functions of M1- and M2-macrophages. In the fibrosis-progress phase, interleukin (IL)-6, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, and interferon (IFN)-γ for M1-factors, and transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1 and IL-10 for M2-factors tended to increase; tissue injury by M1 and fibrosis by M2 might have occurred simultaneously. Lots of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells appeared in close relation with MHC class II+ macrophages, and mainly CD4+ T cells formed aggregations. In the lymphocyte aggregates collected by laser microdissection, expression of IL-17A (for Th17 cells) and forkhead box P3 (FoxP3) (for Treg) significantly increased at weeks 1 and 6, respectively; presumably, Th17 cells might be involved in tissue injury, whereas Treg might be related to fibrosis amelioration. These results suggested that macrophages and T cells may contribute interrelatedly to renal fibrosis.

A focus characterization method using the intensity correlation of X-ray fluorescence is proposed, and demonstrated for the sub-micrometre focused X-ray free-electron laser beam at the SPring-8 Angstrom Compact Free Electron Laser., This paper proposes and demonstrates a simple method using the intensity correlation of X-ray fluorescence to evaluate the focused beam size of an X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL). This method was applied to the sub-micrometre focused XFEL beam at the SPring-8 Angstrom Compact Free Electron Laser, and the beam size evaluated using the proposed method was consistent with that measured using the knife-edge scan method. The proposed method is readily applicable to extremely small X-ray spots and can be applied for the precise diagnostics of sub-10 nm focused X-ray beams which have recently emerged.

Upon progressive refinement of energy resolution, the conventional resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS) instrumentation reaches the limit where the bandwidth of incident photons becomes insufficient to deliver an acceptable photon-count rate. Here it is shown that RIXS spectra as a function of energy loss are essentially invariant to their integration over incident energies within the core-hole lifetime. This fact permits RIXS instrumentation based on the hv 2-concept to utilize incident synchrotron radiation over the whole core-hole lifetime window without any compromise on the much finer energy-loss resolution, thereby breaking the photon-count limit.

Focusing of an X-ray free-electron laser enables the production of ultrahigh-intensity X-ray pulses. X-ray nanobeams of a free-electron laser were generated using reflective focusing optics combined with speckle interferometry., Ultimate focusing of an X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) enables the generation of ultrahigh-intensity X-ray pulses. Although sub-10 nm focusing has already been achieved using synchrotron light sources, the sub-10 nm focusing of XFEL beams remains difficult mainly because the insufficient stability of the light source hinders the evaluation of a focused beam profile. This problem is specifically disadvantageous for the Kirkpatrick–Baez (KB) mirror focusing system, in which a slight misalignment of ∼300 nrad can degrade the focused beam. In this work, an X-ray nanobeam of a free-electron laser was generated using reflective KB focusing optics combined with speckle interferometry. The speckle profiles generated by 2 nm platinum particles were systematically investigated on a single-shot basis by changing the alignment of the multilayer KB mirror system installed at the SPring-8 Angstrom Compact Free-Electron Laser, in combination with computer simulations. It was verified that the KB mirror alignments were optimized with the required accuracy, and a focused vertical beam of 5.8 nm (±1.2 nm) was achieved after optimization. The speckle interferometry reported in this study is expected to be an effective tool for optimizing the alignment of nano-focusing systems and for generating an unprecedented intensity of up to 1022 W cm−2 using XFEL sources.

To reduce the on-resistance in vertical power transistors, backside thinning is required after device processing. However, it is difficult to thin silicon carbide (SiC) wafers with a high removal rate by conventional mechanical processing because their hardness and brittleness cause cracks and chips during thinning. Therefore, the authors have attempted to thin SiC wafers using plasma chemical vaporization machining (PCVM), which is plasma etching using high-pressure plasma. PCVM has a high removal rate because of the high radical density in the high-pressure plasma, and it does not form a damaged layer on the processed surface because of the low ion energy. The authors have already achieved a very high removal rate of 15.6 μm/min by PCVM. However, many etch pits were generated on the wafer during PCVM in these high-speed machining conditions. Therefore, this study, using molten potassium hydroxide (KOH) etching, investigated the cause of such etch pits and found that they may stem from threading screw dislocation in the wafers. In addition, this research considered a process for reducing an etch pit size and succeeded in doing so by controlling wafer temperature.

Takato Inoue, Yuka Nishioka, Satoshi Matsuyama, Junki Sonoyama, Kazuteru Akiyama, Hiroki Nakamori, Yoshio Ichii, Yasuhisa Sano, Xianbo Shi, Deming Shu, Max D. Wyman, Ross Harder, Yoshiki Kohmura, Makina Yabashi, Lahsen Assoufid, Tetsuya Ishikawa, and Kazuto Yamauchi, "Optimal deformation procedure for hybrid adaptive x-ray mirror based on mechanical and piezo-driven bending system", Review of Scientific Instruments 92, 123706 (2021), https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0070465., A hybrid deformable x-ray mirror consisting of a mechanical bender and a bimorph deformable mirror has been developed to realize adaptive optical systems, such as zoom condenser optics, for synchrotron-radiation-based x-ray microscopy. In the developed system, both bending mechanisms comprehensively contribute to the formation of the target mirror shape and can narrow the role of piezoelectric actuators, thereby enabling a more stable operation. In this study, the behavior of the bimorph mirror under the clamped condition was investigated, and the sharing of the deformation amount for each bending mechanism was optimized to minimize the amplitude of the voltage distribution of the bimorph mirror.

It is widely recognized that the toxicity of mercury (Hg) is attenuated by the simultaneous administration of selenium (Se) compounds in various organisms. In this study, we revealed the mechanisms underlying the antagonistic effect of sodium selenite (Na2SeO3) on inorganic Hg (Hg2+) toxicity in human hepatoma HepG2 cells. Observations by transmission electron microscopy indicated that HgSe (tiemannite) granules of up to 100 nm in diameter were accumulated in lysosomal-like structures in the cells. The HgSe granules were composed of a number of HgSe nanoparticles, each measuring less than 10 nm in diameter. No accumulation of HgSe nanoparticles in lysosomes was observed in the cells exposed to chemically synthesized HgSe nanoparticles. This suggests that intracellular HgSe nanoparticles were biologically generated from Na2SeO3 and Hg2+ ions transported into the cells and were not derived from HgSe nanoparticles formed in the extracellular fluid. Approximately 85% of biogenic HgSe remained in the cells at 72 h post culturing, indicating that biogenic HgSe was hardly excreted from the cells. Moreover, the cytotoxicity of Hg2+ was ameliorated by the simultaneous exposure to Na2SeO3 even before the formation of insoluble HgSe nanoparticles. Our data confirmed for the first time that HepG2 cells can circumvent the toxicity of Hg2+ through the direct interaction of Hg2+ with a reduced form of Se (selenide) to form HgSe nanoparticles via a Hg-Se soluble complex in the cells. Biogenic HgSe nanoparticles are considered the ultimate metabolite in the Hg detoxification process.

The desire to see the smallest possible objects, such as the contents of cells, reflects our intellectual curiosity and has resulted in the development of various types of microscopes. Microscopes using an X-ray source were developed after Rontgen's discovery of X-rays in 1895. Rontgen rays were first used for photography in 1896 and for observation of the structural details of biological samples in the 1900s. This use of X-rays grew considerably following the development of X-ray optics such as diffractive lenses and total-reflection mirrors in the late 1940s. X-ray microscopy theoretically has better resolution than that of visible light (400–700 nm) microscopy and has developed differently from both visible light and electron microscopy due to the penetration ability of X-rays. The third-generation synchrotron radiation facilities that produce higher electron beam energies promoted X-ray microprobes for various types of microscopies. The accompanying development of X-ray focusing systems has led to today's submicron X-ray probes, which have high enough resolution for imaging cells at the organelle level. In this review, we describe the imaging technologies using synchrotron X-ray fluorescence by means of a sub-100 nm focusing system and X-ray diffraction, which facilitates the determination of the cellular elemental distribution and structure.

Catalyst-referred etching (CARE) is an abrasive-free and damage-free polishing method that involves applying a catalytic reaction at the contact point of the catalyst surface and workpiece in a chemical solution. An atomically flat silicon carbide (SiC) wafer surface can be obtained by the CARE process. Recently, it was found that water can be used as a chemical solution, even in the case of SiC polishing. However, its current removal rate of 4H-SiC (0001) 4°off-axis substrate is only 2 nm/h and is expected to increase. In this study, the use of photoelectrochemical oxidation in combination with the CARE process using water was investigated, successfully increasing the removal rate up to approximately 100 nm/h.

We have developed an X-ray zoom condenser optical system using deformable mirrors that can adjust the beam size by deformation of their shape. The shapes of deformable mirrors are changed by a combination of mechanical and piezoelectric bending. Large deformations up to third order polynomials are achieved by mechanical bending. More precise shapes are achieved by piezoelectric bimorph mirror. However, because both ends of the mirror are mechanically clamped, capability of deformation by piezoelectric bending is lower than that of free-standing piezoelectric bimorph mirrors. So, we propose a bending method that tunes the mechanical bending conditions to intentionally leave the optimized shape error to be easily compensated by the piezoelectric bending process.

A wavefront measurement method in the microscope (magnifying) geometry can help achieve the required high accuracy for deformable mirrors. This study proposes an image-based wavefront measurement method based on a series of images of a small area near the focus. In this method, phase retrieval calculation using multiple images is performed. A proof-of-concept experiment was performed using multilayer AKB mirrors and an FZP to form the small area. Consequently, wavefront aberration was successfully retrieved using 60 images of a 30-nm-diameter area near the focus.

PZT (lead zirconate titanate)-glued bimorph deformable mirrors are widely used in hard x-ray regimes[1], however, they have not yet been used in soft X-ray regimes because they are less compatible for usage under high vacuum. Therefore, we have developed a glue-free bimorph deformable mirror, in which silver nanoparticles were employed to bond PZT actuators to mirror substrates[2]. In this study, we achieved a 2 nm figure error on an elliptical shape of a glue-free deformable mirror. We evaluated the figure change characteristics due to humidity and temperature increasing at the ultrafine figure error condition.

Monoamine transporter occupancy of antidepressants in the brain can be measured by positron emission tomography. For antidepressive effects to appear, serotonin transporter (SERT) occupancy should rise to 80% or higher. Despite a recent increase in the number of reports on norepinephrine transporter (NET) occupancy, estimating the threshold level of NET occupancy required for antidepressive effects is difficult based on the analysis of NET alone. Therefore, studies should be conducted on NET occupancy required for a valid treatment, including an ideal balance between SERT and NET occupancy. (Received 24 September 2020; Accepted December 18, 2020; Published June 1, 2021).

We present ongoing efforts on the development of precision Wolter mirrors for the Soft X-ray Imaging Spectrometer (SXIS) aboard PhoENiX mission proposed to JAXA for studying mechanism(s) of particle acceleration and its relationship with magnetic reconnection in solar flares. The Wolter mirrors for PhoENiX/SXIS are made by direct polishing of glass-ceramic substrates. So far, we succeeded in fabricating a small size of high precision Wolter surfaces (e.g., PSF core size of ~0.2 arcsec HPD at 8 keV) as well as good indication of extending the mirror area along the cylindrical direction. Recent status of the mirror development will be reported.

A high-resolution micro channel-cut crystal monochromator (µCCM) composed of an Si(220) crystal is developed for the purpose of narrowing the bandwidth of a reflection self-seeded X-ray free-electron laser. Subsurface damage on the monochromator, which distorts the wavefront and broadens the bandwidth of the monochromatic seed beam, was removed by using a plasma etching technique. High diffraction performance of the monochromator was confirmed through evaluation with coherent X-rays. Reflection self-seeding operation was tested with the Si(220) µCCM at SPring-8 Angstrom Compact free-electron laser. A narrow average bandwidth of 0.6 eV, which is five times narrower than the value previously reported [I. Inoue et al., Nat. Photonics 13, 319 (2019)10.1038/s41566-019-0365-y], was successfully obtained at 9 keV. The narrow-band X-ray beams with high intensity realized in this study will further expand the capabilities of X-ray free-electron lasers.

Focusing x-ray free-electron lasers (XFEL) allows us to study nonlinear optics within the xray region. Recently, we challenged the focusing XFELs to below 10 nm. However, the conventional multilayer Kirkpatrick-Baez(KB) mirrors require too strict alignment accuracy of the incident angle. To solve this problem, we propose advanced KB (AKB) mirrors, based on Wolter type III geometry. Because the configuration satisfies the Abbe sine condition, AKB mirrors enables a tolerance of incident angle error 1000 times greater than conventional KB mirrors. The remaining problem is how such mirrors are to be fabricated, because required shape accuracy is below 1 nm and the small radius of curvature on the mirrors makes high accuracy shape measurement difficult. In this work, we performed a mirror fabrication procedure based on a combination of a grating interferometer and a differential deposition. Experiment at BL29XUL of SPring-8 demonstrated AKB mirrors with an accuracy of λ/4 fabricated.

Various types of X-ray focusing optical systems are used at X-ray synchrotron radiation and free-electron laser facilities. However, these are designed for specific purposes and fixed optical parameters such as the numerical aperture (NA). Their lack of adaptability limits their application targets. In this research, we developed an X-ray adaptive focusing optical system which can control the beam size without moving the position of focus. The optical system consists of two deformable mirrors in one dimension. To vary the focused beam size, the NA is controlled by deforming the shape of the mirrors from concave to convex. The results will be presented along with the aberration properties estimated by ray trace and wave optical methods.

Takashi Hirano, Yuki Morioka, Shotaro Matsumura, Yasuhisa Sano, Taito Osaka, Satoshi Matsuyama, Makina Yabashi, and Kazuto Yamauchi, “Surface Finishing Method Using Plasma Chemical Vaporization Machining for Narrow Channel Walls of X-Ray Crystal Monochromators,” Int. J. Automation Technol., Vol.13, No.2, pp. 246-253, 2019., Channel-cut Si crystals are useful optical devices for providing monochromatic X-ray beams with extreme angular stability. Owing to difficulties in the high-precision surface finishing of narrow-channel inner walls of the crystals, typical channel-cut crystals have considerable residual subsurface crystal damage and/or roughness on their channel-wall reflection surfaces that decrease intensity and distort the wavefronts of the reflected X-rays. This paper proposes a highprecision surface finishing method for the narrowchannel inner walls based on plasma chemical vaporization machining, which is a local etching technique using atmospheric-pressure plasma. Cylinderand nozzle-shaped electrodes were designed for channel widths of more than 5 and 3 mm, respectively. We optimized process conditions for each electrode using commercial Si wafers, and obtained a removal depth of 10 μm with a surface flatness and roughness of less than 1 μm and 1 nmRMS, respectively, which should allow the damaged layers to be fully removed while maintaining the wavefront of coherent X-rays.

Canine tonsillar squamous cell carcinoma (TSCC) shows a higher metastasis rate than non-tonsillar oral SCC (NTSCC). The mechanisms of metastasis for TSCC have been less studied, because both TSCC and NTSCC cell lines are few. In this study, 6 cloned TSCC (TSCCLN#1-#6), which were from a metastatic lymph node, and 2 cloned NTSCC (oSCC-1 and -4) cell lines, which were from the primary lesion, were established, and their characteristics were evaluated in vitro and in vivo. Results showed that increased expression level of Vimentin in TSCC cell lines and increased expression levels of mesenchymal markers including Vimentin, Snail, and Slug in NTSCC cell lines corelated with the malignant phenotypes such as the cell growth and colony formation abilities in vitro. However, expression levels of mesenchymal markers and in vitro characteristics were unrelated to tumorigenic ability in nude mice. Additionally, the expression levels of E-cadherin and Vimentin were also evaluated by immunohistochemistry using the formalin-fixed paraffin embedded canine oral SCC tissues, and the results show that the expression level of Vimentin in TSCC was higher than in NTSCC. In conclusion, the cell lines established in this study might contribute to elucidating the mechanisms involved in TSCC metastasis.

Daisetsu Toh, Pho Van Bui, Ai Isohashi, Satoshi Matsuyama, Kazuto Yamauchi, and Yasuhisa Sano, "An abrasive-free chemical polishing method assisted by nickel catalyst generated by in situ electrochemical plating", Review of Scientific Instruments 91, 045108 (2020), https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5141381., An abrasive-free polishing method using water and a Pt catalyst, called catalyst-referred etching (CARE), has been developed for the finishing of optical and semiconductor surfaces. This method realizes well-ordered surfaces with a smoothness of several tens of picometers without crystallographic disturbance. In this study, we propose a new CARE method using a Ni catalyst with in situ electrochemical plating and dissolution, which enable enhancing the catalytic capability of Ni. This method has advantages to realize more than ten times higher removal rate and better stability compared with the conventional CARE method.

Macrophages are required during kidney development and appear in the initiation and propagation of renal injury. To establish baseline data, we analyzed the kinetics of the macrophage with different immunophenotypes in the developing rat kidney (fetus at 18 and 20 days, neonate at 1-21 days, and adult at 7-weeks old). Macrophages reacting to CD68, CD163, and MHC class II were identified in the cortex and medulla of the developing rat kidney. CD68+ macrophages appeared in the fetal kidney as early as fetal day 18, and the number increased gradually in the neonatal kidney, whereas MHC class II+ and CD163+ macrophages first appeared on neonatal days 4 and 8, respectively. Apoptotic bodies were seen in the fetal kidney and early stages of the neonatal kidney (days 1-4), and simultaneously CD68+ macrophages appeared, indicating that CD68+ macrophages may have roles in phagocytosis of apoptotic bodies and contribute to renal tissue maturation. Colony stimulating factor 1 and insulin growth factor 1 mRNAs were increased in the late stage of renal development (neonatal day 12 or later), and simultaneously CD163+ and MHC class II+ cells appeared, suggesting that these cells may be a source of these growth factors and participate in renal tissue modeling. Generally, the CD163+ and MHC class II+ cell number was much smaller than that of CD68+ cells in the developing neonatal kidney. Therefore, the obtained findings provide valuable information on the participation of macrophages in the developing rat kidney. This information may be useful for evaluation of renal toxicity when macrophages are involved in the development of renal injury.

A catalytically assisted etching method, named Catalyst-Referred Etching (CARE) was applied to the planarization of Lithium Niobate (LN) surface, which is widely used for optical waveguides, optical modulators, piezoelectric applications. The study demonstrates that an atomically smooth surface with less than 0.1 nm root-mean-square roughness could be achieved on a LN substrate using a thin metal film and pure water as the catalyst and etching solution, respectively. All residual stress and surface damage could be removed completely thanks to the removal mechanism of CARE.

The performance of a hard X-ray split-and-delay optical system with a wavefront division scheme has been investigated at SACLA., The performance of a hard X-ray split-and-delay optical (SDO) system with a wavefront division scheme was investigated at the hard X-ray free-electron laser facility SACLA. For the wavefront division, beam splitters made of edge-polished perfect Si(220) crystals were employed. We characterized the beam properties of the SDO system, and investigated its capabilities for beam manipulation and diagnostics. First, it was confirmed that shot-to-shot non-invasive diagnostics of pulse energies for both branches in the SDO system was feasible. Second, nearly ideal and identical focal profiles for both branches were obtained with a spot size of ∼1.5 µm in full width at half-maximum. Third, a spatial overlap of the two focused beams with a sub-µm accuracy was achieved by fine tuning of the SDO system. Finally, a reliable tunability of the delay time between two pulses was confirmed. The time interval was measured with an X-ray streak camera by changing the path length of the variable-delay branch. Errors from the fitted line were evaluated to be as small as ±0.4 ps over a time range of 60 ps.

Yasuhisa Sano, Ken Nishida, Ryohei Asada, Shinya Okayama, Daisetsu Toh, Satoshi Matsuyama, and Kazuto Yamauchi, "High-throughput deterministic plasma etching using array-type plasma generator system", Review of Scientific Instruments 92, 125107 (2021), https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0071623., A deterministic processing method is a high-precision finishing method, where the to-be-removed amount of material at each point of the work surface is calculated based on an accurately measured present surface shape and is removed precisely using a numerically controlled (NC) processing system. Although this method has achieved nanometer-scale accuracy, the method requires considerable time to scan the work surface, leading to low productivity. Therefore, using an individual on-off controllable array-type plasma generator covering the entire work surface, enabling simultaneous NC plasma processing is proposed herein. A novel intermittent gas flow system was constructed using cyclic on-off control of the gas supply and exhaust valves instead of the commonly used continuous gas flow to achieve uniform in-plane plasma etching. It was found that uniform removal could be achieved by combining it with a pulse-modulated high-frequency power supply and setting the plasma generation time in one cycle to be sufficiently short. Furthermore, a power control approach was developed for maintaining a constant plasma state, even while varying the plasma-generating array elements, which resulted in a demonstration experiment of NC plasma etching that successfully reduced the thickness variation of a silicon substrate.

RIXS spectra are invariant to their integration over incident-photon energies within the core-hole lifetime. With hv 2 spectrometers, the whole lifetime-wide bandwidth of synchrotron radiation can be utilized without compromising the energy resolution of the RIXS spectra., Upon progressive refinement of energy resolution, the conventional resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS) instrumentation reaches the limit where the bandwidth of incident photons becomes insufficient to deliver an acceptable photon-count rate. Here it is shown that RIXS spectra as a function of energy loss are essentially invariant to their integration over incident energies within the core-hole lifetime. This fact permits RIXS instrumentation based on the hv 2-concept to utilize incident synchrotron radiation over the whole core-hole lifetime window without any compromise on the much finer energy-loss resolution, thereby breaking the photon-count limit.

The development of high-precision x-ray mirrors is described. Atomistic surface polishing technique, elastic emission machining (EEM), was developed more than 30 years ago. This chapter describes how the polishing technique was improved to successfully apply to the synchrotron radiation and XFEL mirrors. The key was actually the figure metrology. The metrology was dramatically advanced by using coherent x-rays at the 1-km beamline of SPring-8, where classical ray-tracing approach was no more valid so that wave-optical approach was developed. Various optical references were developed to improve the global surface figures of mirrors. Successful development of elliptical mirrors helped attaining less than 100 nm focal spot in the conventional beamlines using Kirkpatrick-Baez focusing configuration, reaching 7 nm at the 1-km beamline. The speckle-free mirrors and focusing mirrors were used in XFEL facilities. These mirrors have been applied for various types of scanning nano-probes, imaging system, and generation of highintensity photon fields for nonlinear x-ray optical experiments.

Tight XFEL focusing is very important for significantly enhancing photon flux density, which is highly demanded by users exploring nonlinear X-ray optics. However, focusing XFEL down to 10 nm or less is so difficult from the viewpoints of both optical fabrication and optical alignment. The former can be overcome using techniques of wavefront sensing and fine shape correction. For the latter, techniques for directly measuring beam size on the focus without an influence of vibration of nanobeam are required. We have developed a technique for determining the size of nanobeam on the focus using an intensity interferometer, based on the Hanbury Brown and Twiss effect, of X-ray fluorescence emitted from a thin film inserted into the focus. The spatial coherence of X-ray fluorescence observed far from the focus depends on the distance from the focus and emission region of X-ray fluorescence. Therefore, the measured coherence can determine the size of X-ray nanobeam. This method has advantages that vibration of nanobeam does not affect the result and the setup is so simple. A demonstration experiment was performed using a 100 nm focusing system based on total reflection KB mirrors at SACLA. X-ray fluorescence (8 keV) emitted from a thin Cu film by irradiation of focused XFEL pulses (12 keV) was detected shot-by-shot with a dual MPCCD. Analyses of approximately 1000 images based on the autocorrelation revealed that the beam size obtained with this method is in good agreement with one obtained with the wire scan method.

Spatial resolution of full-field X-ray microscopes based on total-reflection mirrors was limited by grazing-incidence angle of the mirrors. At practical conditions, achievable spatial resolution is approximately 30 nm. To overcome the limitation, multilayer advanced Kirkpatrick-Baez mirrors and full-field X-ray microscopes with this objective mirrors have been developed in Osaka University and RIGAKU Corp. One of the remarkable points in this design is an achievable spatial resolution of less than 20 nm owing to large grazing-incidence angle and multilayer (Pt/C) with narrow period. Also, the advanced Kirkpatrick-Baez mirrors comprise two mirror pairs based on the Wolter type I and type III optics, respectively, to have sufficiently large magnification even at a compact setup with the whole length of 2 m (between a sample and a camera). The compactness makes it possible to apply the optics to laboratory-based X-ray microscopes, which is another ongoing project. A performance test using a Siemens star chart at an X-ray energy of 8 keV was performed in SPring-8 BL29XUL. The results showed lines with approximately 30-nm width could be resolved. Also, tests of stability and energy dependence confirmed usability of this system.

Focusing X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) is very important for producing ultra-intense X-ray nanoprobes. We have developed a system based on multilayer Kirkpatrick–Baez (KB) mirrors to focus XFELs to 10 nm or less at the SPring-8 Angstrom Compact free-electron LAser (SACLA) facility. The mirror optics in the system are designed with a large NA of greater than 0.01 to produce a diffraction-limited size of 6 nm at 9 keV. We constructed a precise X-ray grating interferometer based on the Talbot effect, and succeeded in fabricating near-perfect focusing mirrors with wavefront aberrations of λ/4. However, strict error tolerances for mirror alignment can prevent sub-10 nm focusing. Errors of perpendicularity, incident angle, and astigmatism cause aberration on the focusing wavefront and characteristically change the beam shape. In particular, the required accuracy of the incident angle is 500 nrad. Due to shot-by-shot variations in the XFEL beam position and vibration of the optics, a single-shot diagnosis of beam shape is essential to align the mirrors quickly and accurately. By improving the method proposed by Sikorski et al. at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC), National Accelerator Laboratory, we propose a nanobeam diagnosis method based on the speckle pattern observed under coherent scattering. Computer simulation revealed that speckle size and beam size are inversely proportional. Platinum particles with a diameter of 2 nm were prepared and irradiated with X-rays to obtain a speckle pattern. Our experimental results demonstrate the successful estimation of beam shape and the alignment of all mirrors with the required accuracies.

In synchrotron radiation facilities and X-ray free electron laser facilities, beam size adjustment depending on the experimental condition and the sample size is necessary. Various types of X-ray focusing optical systems are used for beam conditioning. However, they are specially designed for specific purposes and optical parameters such as numerical aperture (NA) and focal length are fixed. This lack of adaptability has limited application targets. In this research, we are developing X-ray adaptive focusing optical system which can control the beam size without moving the position of the focus. The optical system consists of two deformable mirrors in one dimension. In order to control the focused beam size, the NA can be controlled by deforming the mirror shapes from concave to convex. When we want to achieve large NA, deform the upstream mirror into convex shape and spread the beam. The downstream mirror receives X-ray with full aperture and X-ray is focused at focal point. When we want to achieve small NA, deform the upstream mirror into a concave shape and narrow down the reflection area of downstream mirror. NA becomes small because reflection area of downstream mirror becomes narrow. One dimensional focusing experiment of large NA adaptive optical system was performed at SPring-8 as a demonstration. A focused beam with an intensity profile having a full width at half maximum of 134 nm was achieved at 10 keV. This is close to ideal beam size. In my presentation, I will explain details of adaptive focusing optics and deformable mirrors.

A catalytically assisted etching system was developed for the ultra-precision fabrication of optical components, such as X-ray mirrors and extreme-ultraviolet mask blanks. This study demonstrates that an atomically smooth surface with a sub-Angstrom root-mean-square roughness could be achieved on a SiO