title: Sub-10 nm beam confinement by X-ray waveguides: design, fabrication and characterization of optical properties.
abstract: The propagation of hard X-ray synchrotron beams in waveguides with guiding layer diameters in the 9-35 nm thickness range has been studied. The planar waveguide structures consist of an optimized two-component cladding. The presented fabrication method is suitable for short and leak-proof waveguide slices with lengths (along the optical axis) in the sub-500 µm range, adapted for optimized transmission at photon energies of 11.5-18 keV. A detailed comparison between finite-difference simulations of waveguide optics and the experimental results is presented, concerning transmission, divergence of the waveguide exit beam, as well as the angular acceptance. In a second step, two crossed waveguides have been used to create a quasi-point source for propagation-based X-ray imaging at the new nano-focus endstation of the P10 coherence beamline at Petra III. By inverting the measured Fraunhofer diffraction pattern by an iterative error-reduction algorithm, a two-dimensional focus of 10 nm × 10 nm is obtained. Finally, holographic imaging of a lithographic test structure based on this optical system is demonstrated.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Röntgenphysik, Universität Göttingen, Friedrich-Hund-Platz 1, 37077 Göttingen, Germany. skruege@gwdg.de
authors.forename: S P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Krüger
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Neubauer
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bartels
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kalbfleisch
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Giewekemeyer
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Wilbrandt
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sprung
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Salditt