Glass capillary X-ray lens: fabrication technique and ray tracing calculations

A new method for producing a compound refractive X-ray lens is described. The lens is designed as glass capillary "lled by a set of concave individual lenses. The method is appropriate for the preparation of 10}1000 spherical lenses in a glass capillary with a diameter of 0.1}1 mm. Lens aberrations are considered and simple formulas for spot size are derived. Ray-tracing simulations on the focusing experiments using 18 keV X-rays are reported. ( 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved

Radiography and tomography system using refractive lenses

A prototype x-ray imaging system was built and tested for high-resolution x-ray radiography and tomography. The instrument consists of a microspot x-ray tube with a multilayer optic, a parabolic compound refractive lens (CRL) made of a plastic containing only hydrogen and carbon, and an x-ray detector. A rotation stage was added for tomography. Images were acquired of both grid meshes and biological materials, and these are compared to images achieved with spherical lenses. We found the best image quality using the multilayer condenser with a parabolic lens, compared to images with a spherical lens and without the multilayer optics. The resolution was measured using a 155 element parabolic CRL and a multilayer condenser with the microspot tube. The experiment demonstrates about 1.1 µm resolution

Microspot x-ray focusing using a short focal-length compound refractive lenses

We have fabricated and tested short focal-length compound refractive lenses (CRLs) composed of microbubbles embedded in epoxy encased in glass capillaries. The interface between the bubbles formed 90 to 350 spherical biconcave microlenses reducing the overall focal length inversely by the number of lenses or bubbles. When compared with CRLs manufactured using other methods, the microbubble lenses have shorter focal lengths with higher transmissions and larger gains for moderate energy x rays (e.g., 7–20 keV). We used beamline 2–3 at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory and beamline 5BM-D-DND at the Advanced Photon Source to measure focal lengths between 100–250 mm with lens apertures varying between 97 and 321 mm. Transmission profiles were measured giving, for example, a peak transmission of 46% for a 240 mm focal length CRL at 20 keV. The focal-spot sizes were also measured yielding, for example, a vertical spot size of 1.2 mm resulting from an approximate 20-fold demagnification of the APS 23 mm source size. The measured gains in intensity over that of unfocused beam were between 9 and 26

Glass capillary X-ray lens: fabrication technique and ray tracing calculations

A new method for producing a compound refractive X-ray lens is described. The lens is designed as glass capillary "lled by a set of concave individual lenses. The method is appropriate for the preparation of 10}1000 spherical lenses in a glass capillary with a diameter of 0.1}1 mm. Lens aberrations are considered and simple formulas for spot size are derived. Ray-tracing simulations on the focusing experiments using 18 keV X-rays are reported. ( 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved

Radiography and tomography system using refractive lenses

A prototype x-ray imaging system was built and tested for high-resolution x-ray radiography and tomography. The instrument consists of a microspot x-ray tube with a multilayer optic, a parabolic compound refractive lens (CRL) made of a plastic containing only hydrogen and carbon, and an x-ray detector. A rotation stage was added for tomography. Images were acquired of both grid meshes and biological materials, and these are compared to images achieved with spherical lenses. We found the best image quality using the multilayer condenser with a parabolic lens, compared to images with a spherical lens and without the multilayer optics. The resolution was measured using a 155 element parabolic CRL and a multilayer condenser with the microspot tube. The experiment demonstrates about 1.1 µm resolution

High resolution x-ray microscope

The authors present x-ray images of grid meshes and biological material obtained using a microspot x-ray tube with a multilayer optic and a 92-element parabolic compound refractive lens CRL made of a plastic containing only hydrogen and carbon. Images obtained using this apparatus are compared with those using an area source with a spherical lens and a spherical lens with multilayer condenser. The authors found the best image quality using the multilayer condenser with a parabolic lens, compared to images with a spherical lens and without the multilayer optics. The resolution was measured using a 155-element parabolic CRL and a multilayer condenser with the microspot tube. The experiment demonstrates about 1.1 m resolution

Microspot x-ray focusing using a short focal-length compound refractive lenses

We have fabricated and tested short focal-length compound refractive lenses (CRLs) composed of microbubbles embedded in epoxy encased in glass capillaries. The interface between the bubbles formed 90 to 350 spherical biconcave microlenses reducing the overall focal length inversely by the number of lenses or bubbles. When compared with CRLs manufactured using other methods, the microbubble lenses have shorter focal lengths with higher transmissions and larger gains for moderate energy x rays (e.g., 7 -20 keV). We used beamline 2-3 at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory and beamline 5BM-D-DND at the Advanced Photon Source to measure focal lengths between 100-250 mm with lens apertures varying between 97 and 321 m. Transmission profiles were measured giving, for example, a peak transmission of 46% for a 240 mm focal length CRL at 20 keV. The focal-spot sizes were also measured yielding, for example, a vertical spot size of 1.2 m resulting from an approximate 20-fold demagnification of the APS 23 m source size. The measured gains in intensity over that of unfocused beam were between 9 and 26