SUBOPTICAL X-RAY-IMAGING USING THE VULCAN X-RAY LASER

An imaging microscope, comprising a Schwarzchild condenser and a zone-plate optical arrangement, has been established on the Vulcan Nd:glass laser system at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. Magnified images of simple test structures have been taken in x-ray transmission in a single subnanosecond laser shot by using doublet x-ray laser radiation at 23.2 and 23.6 nm from collisionally pumped Ne-like germanium. Image resolutions of approximately 0.15 mum have been measured. The results are a proof of principle and demonstrate that images of potentially suboptical resolution and of specimen regions that are destroyed on passage of the x-ray beam can be taken successfully using the Vulcan x-ray laser.