Fourier transform holography is a highly efficient and robust imaging method, suitable for single-shot imaging at coherent X-ray sources. In its common implementation, the image contrast is limited by the reference signal generated by a small pinhole aperture. Increased pinhole diameters improve the signal, whereas the resolution is diminished. Here we report a new concept to decouple the spatial resolution from the image contrast by employing a Fresnel zone plate to provide the reference beam. Superimposed on-axis images of distinct foci are separated with a novel algorithm. Our method is insensitive to mechanical drift or vibrations and allows for long integration times common at low-flux facilities like high harmonic generation sources. The application of monolithic focused reference beams improves the efficiency of high-resolution X-ray Fourier transform holography beyond all present approaches and paves the path towards sub-10 nm single-shot X-ray imaging.

We demonstrate an x-ray imaging method that combines Fourier transform holography with tomography ('tomoholography') for threedimensional (3D) microscopic imaging. A 3D image of a diatom shell with a spatial resolution of 140 nm is presented. The experiment is realized by using a small gold sphere as the reference wave source for holographic imaging. This setup allows us to rotate the sample and to collect a number of 2D projections for tomography.

We explore tomographic mask-based Fourier transform x-ray holography with respect to the use of a thin slit as a reference wave source. This imaging technique exclusively uses the interference between the waves scattered by the object and the slit simplifying the experimental realization and ensuring high data quality. Furthermore, we introduce a second reference slit to rotate the sample around a second axis and to record a dual-axes tomogram. Compared to a single-axis tomogram, the reconstruction artifacts are decreased in accordance with the reduced missing data wedge. Two demonstration experiments are performed where test structures are imaged with a lateral resolution below 100 nm.

We present a general approach to thin bulk samples to transparency for experiments in the soft x-ray and extreme ultraviolet spectral range. The method relies on mechanical grinding followed by focused-ion-beam milling. It results in a uniformly thin area of high surface quality, suitable for nanoscale imaging in transmission. In a proof-of-principle experiment, nanoscale magnetic bits on a commercial hard drive glass disk are imaged with a spatial resolution below 30 nm by soft x-ray spectro-holography. Furthermore, we demonstrate imaging of a lithographically patterned test object via absorption contrast. Our approach is suitable for both amorphous and crystalline substrates and has been tested for a variety of common epitaxy growth substrates. Lateral thinning areas in excess of 100 μm and a remaining substrate thickness as thin as 150 nm are easily achievable. Our approach allows preserving a previously grown thin film, and from nanofocus electron diffraction, we find no evidence for morphological changes induced by the process, in agreement with numerical simulations of the ion implantation depth distributon. We expect our method to be widely applicable and especially useful for nanoscale imaging of epitaxial thin films.