Hard x-ray contact microscopy with 250 nm spatial resolution using a novel LiF film detector and a table-top microsource

An innovative route for deep-submicrometer spatial resolution hard x-ray microscopy with tabletop x-ray source is proposed. A film of lithium fluoride LiF was used as imaging detector in contact mode. We present here the x-ray images recorded on LiF films of a Fresnel zone plate with submicrometer gold structures and of an onion cataphyll. The images were read with an optical confocal microscope in fluorescence mode. The measured spatial resolution was about 250 nm, i.e., close to the resolution limit of the confocal microscope. The advantages and drawbacks, and the possible improvements, of this route are discussed.