Diffractive imaging of nonperiodic materials with future coherent X-ray sources

Coherent diffractive imaging using a coherent X-ray source promises to be a useful microscopic method for imaging noncrystalline objects at high spatial resolution. In this article a simple method to estimate the coherently scattered signal as a function of resolution is presented, and it is shown that the required X-ray flux or dose scales as the inverse third power of resolution for a specimen of constant volume and density. A simulated case study using the proposed energy-recovery linac source is also presented, which confirms the estimated flux requirement.