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SNOM images of X-ray radiographs at nano-scale stored in a thin layer of lithium fluoride.

Oliva C, Ustione A, Almaviva S, Baldacchini G, Bonfigli F, Flora F, Lai A, Montereali RM, Faenov AY, Pikuz TA, Francucci M, Gaudio P, Martellucci S, Richetta M, Reale L, Cricenti A

CNR, Istituto di Struttura della Materia, Via del fosso del cavaliere, 100, 00133 Rome, Italy.

In this work, we report a method to observe soft X-ray radiographs at nanoscale of various kind of samples, biological and metallic, stored in a thin layer of lithium fluoride, employing scanning near-field optical microscopy with an optical resolution that reaches 50 nm. Lithium fluoride material works as a novel image detector for X-ray nano-radiographs, due to the fact that extreme ultraviolet radiation and soft X-rays efficiently produce stable point defects emitting optically stimulated visible luminescence in a thin surface layer. The bi-dimensional distribution of the so-created defects depends on the local nanostructure of the investigated sample.

Published 11 March 2008 in J Microsc, 229: 490-5.
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