High-quality x-ray beam generated by tabletop synchrotron MIRRORCLE-6X and its applications

The MIRRORCLE-6X is a tabletop hard X-ray source. By setting a 1 μm outer diameter cross-section target in the electron orbit of the synchrotron, we have succeeded in generating a brilliant hard X-ray beam. The X-ray source point size is the smallest among may X-ray source leads to a high-quality X-ray beam. For instance, in the 10 times magnified phase contrast X-ray image obtained by setting the imaging device far from the specimen we could consequently clearly investigate the shape of a cancer tumor of mm size. In this paper, we describe the principle of MIRRORCLE-6X, and the observed X-ray quality. The present status of X-ray microscope, protein crystallography, and X-ray lithography beam lines are also mentioned. (author)