title: Propagation-based phase-contrast enhancement of nanostructure images using a debris-free femtosecond-laser-driven cluster-based plasma soft x-ray source and an LiF crystal detector.
abstract: We demonstrate in-line phase-contrast imaging of nanothickness foils by using a relatively large, polychromatic, debris-free femtosecond-laser-driven cluster-based plasma soft x-ray source, and a high-resolution, large dynamic range LiF crystal detector. The spatial coherence length of radiation in our setup reached a value of 5 microm on the sample plane, which is enough to observe phase-contrast enhancement in the images registered by the detector placed only a few hundred micrometers behind the object. We have developed a tabletop soft x-ray emission source, which emits radiation within a 4pi sr solid angle, and which allows one to obtain contact and propagation-based phase-contrast imaging of nanostructures with 700 nm spatial resolutions. This advance could be of utility for metrology applications.
authors.affiliation: Kansai Photon Science Institute (KPSI), Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), Kizugawa-shi, Kyoto, Japan.
authors.forename: Tatiana A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Pikuz
authors.forename: Anatoly Ya
authors.initials: AY
authors.lastname: Faenov
authors.forename: Sergei V
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Gasilov
authors.forename: Igor Yu
authors.initials: IY
authors.lastname: Skobelev
authors.forename: Yuji
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fukuda
authors.forename: Masaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kando
authors.forename: Hideyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kotaki
authors.forename: Takayuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Homma
authors.forename: Keigo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kawase
authors.forename: Yukio
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hayashi
authors.forename: Tetsuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kawachi
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Daido
authors.forename: Yoshiaki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kato
authors.forename: Sergei V
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Bulanov