Resolution enhancement in ptychographic X-ray diffraction microscopy

Ptychographic X-ray diffraction microscopy is known as an extension of so-called X-ray diffraction microscopy, which is a lensless X-ray imaging technique based on coherent diffraction measurements and iterative phasing methods. The technique employs sample scanning to see a large viewing area, but so far, the spatial resolution has been rather limited mainly because of positioning errors due to the drift between the sample and illumination optics. Recently, Professor Y. Takahashi (Osaka University, Japan) and his colleagues have published an experimental way to resolve the problem. The research group has developed a method of correcting positioning errors, and made it possible to illuminate a highly focused hard X-ray beam at the exact position on the samples. The spatial resolution achieved is as good as 10 nm or even better in a viewing area of larger than 5 μm. For more information, see the paper, "Towards high-resolution ptychographic X-ray diffraction microscopy", Y. Takahashi et al., Phys. Rev. B83, 214109 (2011).