Nanofabrication for X-ray imaging
Y. Hwu1,*, C. H. Lin1, Y. S. Chen1, Y. S. Chu2 and G. Margaritondo3
1Institute
of Physics, Academia Sinica
Brookhaven National Laboratory
3 School of Basic Sciences, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)
2 NSLS-II,
*Address: Institute of Physics, 128 Academia Rd. Sec. 2, Taipei 115, Taiwan
* Phone: +886-2-2789-6721
*E-mail: phhwu@sincia.edu.tw
* URL:
The technology to focus hard-X-rays (photon energy larger than 1–2 keV) has
made great progress in the past few years1. The progress was particularly
spectacular for lenses based on the Fresnel zone plate concept. The spatial
resolution notably increased by a factor of three, opening up entirely new
domains of application, specifically in biomedical research. As we shall see, this
evolution is the result of a painstaking optimization of many different aspects
rather than of a single technical breakthrough. We report recent results in hardx-ray optics – including record spatial resolution – and in staining techniques
that enable full field microscopy with hard-x-rays from synchrotron to produce
neurobiology images of quality comparable to electron and visible microscopy 2. In
addition, microradiology offers excellent penetration and effective threedimensional detection as required for many neuron studies. In addition, we
tackled the well know problem of low contrast in bioimaging and developed many
nanoparticle systems, including noble metal, alloy and composites, showing
unique properties which are ideal as contrast and labeling agent for x-ray
imaging. These improvements to image quality could benefit the similar imaging
strategy with X-FEL and lead to better and understanding of the nanoparticle
interaction with cells and the whole biology systems.
References:
[1] S. R. Wu, Y. Hwu and G. Margaritondo, “Hard-X-ray Zone Plates: Recent Progress”, Materials 5, 1752
(2012); doi:10.3390/ma5101752
[2] S. R. Wu, S. T. Chen, Y. S. Chu, R. Conley, N. Bouet, C. C. Chien, H. H. Chen, C. H. Lin, H. T. Tung, Y. S.
Chen, G. Margaritondo, J. H. Je, and Y. Hwu, “Nanoresolution Radiology of Neurons”, J. Phys. D 45, 242001
(2012).