Lithium fluoride thin-film detectors for soft X-ray imaging at high spatial resolution

Among insulating materials containing point defects, lithium fluoride (LiF) is a radiation-sensitive alkali halide well known in dosimetry and as active medium in light-emitting devices and lasers. Electronic point defects can be produced in LiF crystals and films by different kinds of radiation. Some of these electronic defects, known as colour centres, are optically active, with broad absorption and emission bands in the visible spectral range. Novel thin-film imaging detectors for extreme ultraviolet and soft X-rays, based on photoluminescence from aggregated colour centres in LiF, have been proposed and are currently under development, successfully extending their operation also in the hard X-ray region, up to 10 keV. Among the main peculiarities of LiF-based detectors, there are intrinsic high spatial resolution, in principle limited only by the point defect size, large field of view and wide dynamic range. These imaging detectors feature great versatility, as they can be grown in the form of thin films on different substrates by well-assessed physical deposition techniques. We present the promising results obtained using different X-ray laser–plasma sources in the field of nanotechnology, biology and in material science in view of future perspectives of research and development.