Progress in optical reconstruction of submicron x-ray holograms

The authors investigate the maximum resolution which can be obtained from x-ray holograms through optical reconstruction. This implies to reject paraxial approximations, i.e. to consider high numerical apertures, and to take into account the holographic aberrations. The authors determine first the limits to a perfectly corrected reconstruction, set by diffraction (in terms of numerical aperture and resolution). It is shown that the diffraction limit can be as good as Λc/2.8, in a particular reconstruction configuration (Λc: reconstruction wavelength). Discussion of practical implementation suggests that Λc/2.2 is reasonably feasible. 12 refs., 8 figs., 1 tab