First application experiments with the Stockholm compact soft x-ray microscope

Abstract

Most soft x-ray microscopes operating in the water window (λ = 2.3 − 4.4 nm) rely on synchrotron radiation sources. In the future we believe scientists will use soft x-ray microscopes as one imaging tool among others in their own laboratory. For this purpose we have developed a full field soft x-ray microscope with a laser-plasma source compact enough to fit on an optical table. In this contribution we describe the current status of this microscope now featuring stable operation at λ = 3.37 nm or λ = 2.48 nm. In-house fabricated single element zone plates offering the possibility to perform phase contrast imaging have been implemented. We also report on the first application experiments for compact soft x-ray microscopy, including results from studies of clay minerals and colloids existing in nature and results from phase optics experiments. Planned upgrades of the microscope include increasing the source brightness, implementing more efficient condenser optics, and installing a cryo sample stage for tomography. These improvements will open up for further applications, especially in the field of biological imaging.