3D nanoscale imaging of biological samples with laboratory-based soft X-ray sources

Aurélie Dehlinger; Anne Blechschmidt; Daniel Grötzsch; Robert Jung; Birgit Kanngießer; Christian Seim; Holger Stiel

doi:10.1117/12.2188324

22 September 2015 3D nanoscale imaging of biological samples with laboratory-based soft X-ray sources

Aurélie Dehlinger, Anne Blechschmidt, Daniel Grötzsch, Robert Jung, Birgit Kanngießer, Christian Seim, Holger Stiel

Proceedings Volume 9589, X-Ray Lasers and Coherent X-Ray Sources: Development and Applications XI; 95890M (2015) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2188324
Event: SPIE Optical Engineering + Applications, 2015, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

In microscopy, where the theoretical resolution limit depends on the wavelength of the probing light, radiation in the soft X-ray regime can be used to analyze samples that cannot be resolved with visible light microscopes. In the case of soft X-ray microscopy in the water-window, the energy range of the radiation lies between the absorption edges of carbon (at 284 eV, 4.36 nm) and oxygen (543 eV, 2.34 nm). As a result, carbon-based structures, such as biological samples, posses a strong absorption, whereas e.g. water is more transparent to this radiation. Microscopy in the water-window, therefore, allows the structural investigation of aqueous samples with resolutions of a few tens of nanometers and a penetration depth of up to 10μm. The development of highly brilliant laser-produced plasma-sources has enabled the transfer of Xray microscopy, that was formerly bound to synchrotron sources, to the laboratory, which opens the access of this method to a broader scientific community. The Laboratory Transmission X-ray Microscope at the Berlin Laboratory for innovative X-ray technologies (BLiX) runs with a laser produced nitrogen plasma that emits radiation in the soft X-ray regime. The mentioned high penetration depth can be exploited to analyze biological samples in their natural state and with several projection angles. The obtained tomogram is the key to a more precise and global analysis of samples originating from various fields of life science.

Citation Download Citation

Aurélie Dehlinger, Anne Blechschmidt, Daniel Grötzsch, Robert Jung, Birgit Kanngießer, Christian Seim, and Holger Stiel "3D nanoscale imaging of biological samples with laboratory-based soft X-ray sources", Proc. SPIE 9589, X-Ray Lasers and Coherent X-Ray Sources: Development and Applications XI, 95890M (22 September 2015); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2188324

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