High-resolution, element-specific microscope using a laser-produced-plasma soft X-ray source

该项目旨在开发一种空间分辨率为50纳米的软x射线史瓦西显微镜，使其能够在3至30纳米的软x射线波长范围内快速简便地对有机和无机杂化物、磁性材料和生物样品进行实验室成像。软x射线显微镜由干净的实验室激光等离子体源、特定d间距单色反射成像多层镜、可见光高精度对准光学元件和图像探测器组成，均符合高质量成像要求。最突出的技术是我们的多层制造技术，在凹面镜和凸面镜衬底上实现了高精度的d空间控制，精度达到0.1%，实现了13.5nm及以上波长的单色镜之间的精确波长匹配，直至4.5nm，碳窗区域。该工艺由用于曲面镜样品的新型实验室光谱反射计、用于波前误差测量的软x射线干涉仪和用于通过层周期去除进行数字误差校正的多层表面铣削系统支持。这些设备有助于建立多年光学软x射线光学工程。最主要的成果是研制出具有80%高通量的四镜光学显微镜的高质量<一次成像>。图像的分辨率已经达到CCD探测器像素尺寸400nm的极限，有望达到30nm。对0.2mm视场内的活细胞进行高分辨率成像，以6000×6000像素一次显示内部细节。该图像不受溶液中可能存在的粒子布朗运动的毛刺的影响，并提供了在计算机显示所需放大倍率下宽视场详细分析多事件的新方法。

The project aims to develop a soft X-ray Schwarzschild microscope having spatial resolution of 50 nm enabling fast and easy laboratory imaging of organic and inorganic hybrids, magnetic materials and biological samples with the soft X-ray light in the wavelength range of 3 to 30 nm. The soft X-ray microscope is composed of a clean laboratory source of a laser produced plasma, imaging multilayer mirrors of specific D-spacing for monochromatic reflection, high accuracy alignment optics by visible light and image detectors, all comply with the high quality imaging.The most outstanding technology established is with our multilayer fabricator enabling D-space control on concave and convex mirror substrates with high accuracy of 0.1%, which achieves exact wavelength matching among the monochromatic mirrors for the wavelengths of 13.5nm and beyond, down to the 4.5nm, the carbon window region. The fabrication is supported by a new laboratory spectro-reflectometer designed for the curved mirror samples, a soft X-ray interferometer for the wave-front error measurements and a multilayer surface milling system for digital error correction by the layer period removal. These equipments help establishing soft X-ray optical engineering with multiyear optics.The most dominant achievement is the high grade <one shot imaging> by the microscope with the high 80% throughput 4-mirror optics developed. The resolution of the image has already met the 400nm limit by the CCD detector pixel size and is expected to reach 30nm. The high resolution imaging of living cells within the 0.2mm field of view will show details inside with 6000×6000 pixels by one shot. The image is free from burring by possible Brownian motion of particles in solution and offers new process of detailed analysis of multi-events in the wide field of view at desired magnification in the computer display of the novel optical microscope.