Laser-Generated Plasmas: Source Requirements for X-Ray Microscopy

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Michette, A. G.

Affiliations: Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik, Ludwig-Prandtl-Strasse 10, D-8046 Garching bei München, Federal Republic of Germany

Note: [] Alexander von Humboldt research fellow, on sabbatical leave (until October 1989) from Physics Department, King's College, Strand, London WC2R 2LS, UK.

Abstract: Microscopic imaging using x rays has been made feasible by recent developments in techniques for manufacturing x-ray optical components and in synchrotron radiation sources. However, it is clear that x-ray microscopes cannot become widely available instruments if they have to rely on synchrotron radiation sources. Laser-generated plasmas can give intense bursts of x rays, and in this paper the requirements for two types of imaging, contact microradiography and scanning transmission x-ray microscopy, are discussed, with particular reference to the use of small commercially available lasers. Such lasers could be of use, particularly for scanning x-ray microscopes, but it is unlikely they will be capable of completely replacing synchrotrons as sources for x-ray microscopy.

DOI: 10.3233/XST-1990-2101

Journal: Journal of X-Ray Science and Technology, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 1-16, 1990