Crossed planar X-ray lenses made from nickel for X-ray micro focusing and imaging applications

Abstract X-ray refractive lenses made from nickel are ideally suited for scanning focusing microscopy and imaging using high-energy X-ray photons. They can provide minimum spot size of about 20 nm for a focused photon beam of 80 keV energy. A four-fold magnified image of a low-contrast object with a spatial resolution of 600 nm was measured at this energy for the first time. In order to further decrease the focal spot size a lens with mosaic shape was designed and its optical performance evaluated.