X-ray Microscopy and Microtomography

Abstract

It has been almost a decade since the first special issue on X-ray microscopy, organized by Günter Schmahl (SRN, Vol. 16, No. 3, 2003). That was a time of rapid expansion of scanning X-ray microscopes (STXM) and transmission microscopes (TXM). The special issue included articles on soft X-ray microscopes at BESSYII, ALS, NSLS, Aarhus, Ritsumeikan, Elettra, and on hard X-ray microscopes at ESRF, SPring-8, and the APS. Most of these instruments used zone plates to achieve high resolution, have thrived ever since, and many more have come on-line. Microscopes are now operating, or being commissioned at almost every light source around the world. X-ray microscopy has become a broadly utilized technique, with journal articles describing results appearing almost weekly. There are even commercial suppliers selling X-ray microscopes to be used at light sources, or at any home laboratory. There is a specialized International Conference on X-ray Microscopy that is held every two years, with the most recent one held in Shanghai in August 2012. Several review articles provide an overview of the field [1–5].