High Resolution Soft-X-Ray Projection Imaging

Abstract

The principal motivation for carrying out projection imaging with soft-x-rays instead of with visible or ultraviolet light lies in the dramatic improvement in resolution that can be obtained (while maintaining a usable depth of focus). Although there are many reports of soft-x-ray imaging in the literature,1-6 soft-x-ray imaging with truly high resolution has only recently been demonstrated.7 In this talk we describe the results of several experiments which have demonstrated projection imaging in the soft-x-ray spectral region with a resolution approaching the Rayleigh limit, 1.22λ/2NA where λ is wavelength and NA is numerical aperture of the imaging system.