Hard x-ray nanofocusing by multilayer Laue lenses

Multilayer Laue lens (MLL) is a new class of x-ray optics that offer great promise for achieving nanometre-level spatial resolution by focusing hard x-rays. Fabricating an MLL via thin-film deposition provides the means to achieve a linear Fresnel-zone plate structure with zone widths below 1 nm, while retaining a virtually limitless aspect ratio. Despite its similarity to the Fresnel-zone plate, MLL exhibits categorically distinctive focusing properties and their fabrication comes with a wide array of challenges. This article provides a comprehensive review of advances in MLLs, and includes extensive theoretical modelling on focusing performance, discussion on fabrication challenges, their current capabilities and notable results from x-ray focusing experiments. (topical review)