Soft X-ray holography at NSRL

Soft X-ray Microscopy station is one of the first constructed facilities at NSRL. The main instrument of the beamline is a monochromator which can provide the monochromized X-rays varying from 2.0 nm to 5.0 nm. Our holographic image employs the X-rays, so called ''water window,'' and experimental setup is arranged in a Gabor in-line way. Holograms are recorded on the photoresist polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) and readout with ordinary light microscopes or atomic force microscopes (AFMs). They are reconstructed using optical or numerical methods. So far the holograms of some samples and their reconstructed images are acquired. Those samples include minute granules, cobweb and so on. The estimated resolution of the reconstructed images reaches the level of submicron. It is limited by the coherence of the X-rays used for these experiments. And it is possible to improve the resolution in the future