X-ray Lens Enables a View into the Nanoworld

Achromatic lenses produce sharp images in photography and optical microscopes, enabling different colors to have a common focal point. So far, however, they haven’t been available for X-rays.

A team of PSI scientists has changed that, developing an achromatic X-ray lens, which will benefit R&D work in such sectors as microchips, batteries, and materials science.

The team used a second refractive lens in front of the diffractive lens to solve the challenge, using 3D printing on a micrometer scale. The resulting lens enables the leap from research application to X-ray microscopy in commercial use.