title: STXM goes 3D: digital reconstruction of focal stacks as novel approach towards confocal soft x-ray microscopy.
abstract: Fresnel zone plate based soft x-ray transmission microspectroscopy has developed into a routine technique for high-resolution elemental or chemical 2D imaging of thin film specimens. The availability of high resolution Fresnel lenses with short depth of focus offers the possibility of optical slicing (in the third dimension) by focus series with resolutions in the submicron regime. We introduce a 3D reconstruction algorithm that uses a variance-based metric to assign a focus measure as basis for volume rendering. The algorithm is applied to simulated geometries and opaque soft matter specimens thus enabling 3D visualization. These studies with z-resolution of few 100nm serve as important step towards the vision of a confocal transmission x-ray microscope.
authors.affiliation: Physikalische Chemie II and ICMM, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Egerlandstraße 3, 91058 Erlangen, Germany.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Späth
authors.affiliation: Pattern Recognition Lab (Informatics 5), Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Martensstraße 3, 91058 Erlangen, Germany; ASTRUM IT GmbH, Am Wolfsmantel 2, 91058 Erlangen, Germany.
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Scho Ll
authors.affiliation: Pattern Recognition Lab (Informatics 5), Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Martensstraße 3, 91058 Erlangen, Germany; Department of Radiology, Stanford University, 94305 Stanford, USA.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Riess
authors.affiliation: Theoretische Chemie, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Egerlandstraße 3, 91058 Erlangen, Germany.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Schmidtel
authors.affiliation: Università degli Studi di Roma "Tor Vergata", Department of Chemical Science and Technology, Via della Ricerca Scientifica I, 00133 Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Gaio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Paradossi
authors.affiliation: Paul Scherrer Institute, 5232 Villigen, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Jo Rg
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Raabe
authors.affiliation: Pattern Recognition Lab (Informatics 5), Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Martensstraße 3, 91058 Erlangen, Germany.
authors.forename: Joachim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hornegger
authors.affiliation: Physikalische Chemie II and ICMM, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Egerlandstraße 3, 91058 Erlangen, Germany; CENEM, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Egerlandstraße 3, 91058 Erlangen, Germany. Electronic address: rainer.fink@fau.de.
authors.forename: Rainer H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Fink
keywords: Confocal microscopy; Digital image reconstruction; STXM; X-ray microscopy