Nanofabrication of custom X-ray optical components

A variety of nanostructuring processes have been developed at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) in order to provide optical instrumentation for beamline experiments. We present methods for the fabrication of custom elements such as sub-micron high aspect ratio tantalum slits and pinholes, a calcium fluoride test object for element mapping experiments at the Ca-K-edge, and transmission zone plates with germanium structures for the multi-keV region. Furthermore, we report on the generation of linear silicon Bragg-Fresnel Lenses (BFLs) with unprecedented dimensions. Lenses with 100 nm outermost zone width, lengths up to 10 mm and widths up to 1 mm were tested at the optics beam line of the ESRF. We measured a diffraction efficiency of 26% at a beam energy of 13.25 keV. The purpose of this contribution to the conference is to demonstrate the flexibility of the micro- and nanostructuring facilities at PSI and to encourage scientific groups at synchrotron beam lines to join future collaborations.