Abstract

High quality hard x-ray phase zone plates have recently been demonstrated based on advances in fabrication methods. The capability of these phase zone plates to efficiently focus x-rays opens up many new applications. In particular, microimaging, microanalysis, microdiffraction, and micro-EXAFS have all been demonstrated with ≈2-μm spatial resolution. At the present time, the focal spot size is limited by demagnification of the source, but the results indicate that the diffraction-limited intrinsic resolution is less than 1 μm. These zone plates were fabricated with either a sputtering/slicing technique or an x-ray lithographic technique. Both types of zone plates were tested at 8 keV, and their optics properties (focusing efficiency, signal-to-background ratio) show differences that are consequences of the fabrication method.

© 1992 Optical Society of America