Short illumination wavelength allows an extension of the diffraction limit toward nanometer scale; thus, improving spatial resolution in optical systems. Soft X-ray (SXR) radiation, from "water window" spectral range, λ=2.3-4.4 nm wavelength, which is particularly suitable for biological imaging due to natural optical contrast provides better spatial resolution than one obtained with visible light microscopes. The high contrast in the "water window" is obtained because of selective radiation absorption by carbon and water, which are constituents of the biological samples. The development of SXR microscopes permits the visualization of features on the nanometer scale, but often with a tradeoff, which can be seen between the exposure time and the size and complexity of the microscopes. Thus, herein, we present a desk-top system, which overcomes the already mentioned limitations and is capable of resolving 60 nm features with very short exposure time. Even though the system is in its initial stage of development, we present different applications of the system for biology and nanotechnology. Construction of the microscope with recently acquired images of various samples will be presented and discussed. Such a high resolution imaging system represents an interesting solution for biomedical, material science, and nanotechnology applications.

We report on a very compact desk-top transmission extreme ultraviolet (EUV) microscope based on a laser-plasma source with a double stream gas-puff target, capable of acquiring magnified images of objects with a spatial (half-pitch) resolution of sub-50 nm. A multilayer ellipsoidal condenser is used to focus and spectrally narrow the radiation from the plasma, producing a quasi-monochromatic EUV radiation (λ = 13.8 nm) illuminating the object, whereas a Fresnel zone plate objective forms the image. Design details, development, characterization and optimization of the EUV source and the microscope are described and discussed. Test object and other samples were imaged to demonstrate superior resolution compared to visible light microscopy.

We present our recent results, related to nanoscale imaging in the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) and soft X-ray (SXR) spectral ranges and demonstrate three novel imaging systems recently developed for the purpose of obtaining high spatial resolution images of nanoscale objects with the EUV and SXR radiations. All the systems are based on laser-plasma EUV and SXR sources, employing a double stream gas puff target. The EUV and SXR full field microscopes-operating at 13.8 nm and 2.88 nm wavelengths, respectively-are currently capable of imaging nanostructures with a sub-50 nm spatial resolution with relatively short (seconds) exposure times. The third system is a SXR contact microscope, operating in the "water-window" spectral range (2.3-4.4 nm wavelength), to produce an imprint of the internal structure of the investigated object in a thin surface layer of SXR light sensitive poly(methyl methacrylate) photoresist. The development of such compact imaging systems is essential to the new research related to biological science, material science, and nanotechnology applications in the near future. Applications of all the microscopes for studies of biological samples including carcinoma cells, diatoms, and neurons are presented. Details about the sources, the microscopes, as well as the imaging results for various objects will be shown and discussed.

The development and demonstration of a table-top transmission soft X-ray (SXR) microscope, using a laboratory incoherent capillary discharge source has been carried out. This Z-pinching capillary discharge water-window SXR source, is a first of its kind to be used for high spatial resolution microscopy at λ = 2.88 nm (430 eV). A grazing incidence ellipsoidal condenser mirror is used for focusing of the SXR radiation at the sample plane. The Fresnel zone plate objective lens is used for imaging of the sample onto a back-illuminated (BI) CCD camera. The achieved half-pitch spatial resolution of the microscope approaches 100 nm, as demonstrated by the knife-edge test. Details about the source, and the construction of the microscope are presented and discussed. Additionally, the SXR images of various samples, proving applicability of such microscope for observation of objects in the nanoscale, are shown. K: Inspection with x-rays; Interaction of radiation with matter; Optics; X-ray generators and sources 1Corresponding author.

A compact soft X-ray microscope based on a nitrogen double-stream gas puff target soft X-ray source, operating at He-like nitrogen spectral line at the wavelength of λ = 2.88 nm is presented. The desk-top size microscope was successfully demonstrated in transmission mode using the Fresnel zone-plate objective and it is suitable for soft X-ray source microscopy in the "water window" spectral range (λ = 2.3 ÷ 4.4 nm). Details about the soft X-ray source source, the microscope and an example of application in the biomedical field are shown and discussed.