Dehlinger, A.; Braenzel, J.; Groetzsch, D.; Feigl, T.; Jung, R.; Kanngießer, B.; Rehbein, S.; Seim, C.; Stiel, H.: Towards High Performance Soft X-ray Cryo-Tomography in the Laborator. Microscopy and Microanalysis 24 (2018), p. 248-249
10.1017/S1431927618013594
Abstract:
Soft X-ray microscopy is an ideal tool to fill the spatial resolution gap between visible light microscopy and electron microscopy. Transmission electron microscopy, due to its small penetration depth, requires extensive and highly invasive sample preparation, such as embedding and sectioning. Soft X-ray microscopy (XRM) in the water-window, in contrast, allows the structural investigation of samples in an aqueous environment with a penetration depth of up to 10 μm and resolutions of a few ten nanometers which is achieved by utilizing radiation between the absorption edges of carbon and oxygen. Therefore, tomographic imaging of a sample can easily be realized using appropriate stages and adequate sample holders for vitrified, non-embedded samples. Whereas most soft X-ray microscopes rely on synchrotron radiation, this contribution presents a laboratory setup based on a highly brilliant laser produced plasma (LPP) source, aiming to increase the availability of water window XRM to a broader scientific community and at the same time offering a higher flexibility to the users [1]. A similar laboratory setup can be found at the KTH Stockholm [2].