Application of SEM-modified X-ray microscope to entomology and histology, and effects of X-ray coherence in imaging

A projection X-ray microscope has been constructed by modifying a scanning electron microscope (HITACHI S-2500CX). Characteristic internal structures and their changes in an aphid, a fly, an ant, a water bear and a beetle are observed first, non-destructively, by X-ray microscope. Stereo-pair X-ray micrographs of Golgi-stained sections of porcine liver show a network of bile canaliculi and stellate cells. The very clear micrographs presented indicate the usefulness of the microscope in studies of entomology and histology. In some micrographs, very thin whiskers or hairs are visible, which suggests that a phase-contrast effect is present in the imaging. X-ray micrographs of an ant hair taken at various distances between the X-ray source and the specimen, D(s), indicate that the image enhancement due to the phase contrast increases with increasing D(s). Degree of the lateral coherence of X-rays of wave length 0.1 nm is theoretically estimated near the hair, with the result that the coherence increases from about zero (almost complete incoherence) at D(s) = 0.1 mm to about unity (almost complete coherence) at D(s) = 6 mm, in agreement with the observation.