Advantages of a synchrotron bending magnet as the sample illuminator for a wide-field X-ray microscope.

In this paper the choice between bending magnets and insertion devices as sample illuminators for a hard X-ray full-field microscope is investigated. An optimized bending-magnet beamline design is presented. Its imaging speed is very competitive with the performance of similar microscopes installed currently at insertion-device beamlines.

Nanoscale X-ray microscopic imaging of mammalian mineralized tissue.

A novel hard transmission X-ray microscope (TXM) at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource operating from 5 to 15 keV X-ray energy with 14 to 30 microm2 field of view has been used for high-resolution (30-40 nm) imaging and density quantification of mineralized tissue. TXM is uniquely suited for imaging of internal cellular structures and networks in mammalian mineralized tissues using relatively thick (50 microm), untreated samples that preserve tissue micro- and nanostructure. To test this method we performed Zernike phase contrast and absorption contrast imaging of mouse cancellous bone prepared under different conditions of in vivo loading, fixation, and contrast agents.

Full-field transmission x-ray microscopy for bio-imaging.

A full-field hard-x-ray microscope at SSRL has successfully imaged samples of biological and environmental origin at 40 nm resolution. Phase contrast imaging of trabeculae from a female mouse tibia, loaded in vivo to study the effects of weight-bearing on bone structure, revealed a complex network of osteocytes and canaliculi. Imaging of cordgrass roots exposed to mercury revealed nanoparticles with strong absorption contrast.

X-ray diffuse scattering measurements of nucleation dynamics at femtosecond resolution.

Femtosecond time-resolved small and wide angle x-ray diffuse scattering techniques are applied to investigate the ultrafast nucleation processes that occur during the ablation process in semiconducting materials. Following intense optical excitation, a transient liquid state of high compressibility characterized by large-amplitude density fluctuations is observed and the buildup of these fluctuations is measured in real time. Small-angle scattering measurements reveal snapshots of the spontaneous nucleation of nanoscale voids within a metastable liquid and support theoretical predictions of the ablation process.