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Updated: Jun 4, 2026

Synchrotron X-ray Microdiffraction and Fluorescence Imaging of Mineral and Rock Samples
Published on: June 19, 2018
A scanning soft x-ray microscope with an ellipsoidal focusing mirror
1Universität Hamburg, 11. Institut für Experimentalphysik, Luruper Chaussee 149, D-2000 Hamburg 50, Germany.
Abstract:
We have developed and brought into operation a new type of scanning soft x-ray microscope which can operate at any photon energy from 20 to 1300 eV. This microscope demagnifies a diaphragm by means of an annular section of an ellipsoidal mirror to a smallest spot size of, at present, about 0.4 μm (FWHM), certainly containing only a small fraction of the total intensity. The sample is scanned across this spot. Between mirror and focus a free space of 30 mm is available for detectors, and particles emitted from a surface at more than 30° to the normal can be extracted into a mass or energy analyzer. Transmission, photoemission, luminescence, photostimulated desorption, reflectivity, and other signals may serve for imaging. In addition, a static analysis of very small samples or spots on a sample will become feasible.
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