Physical Society Colloquium

Soft x-ray scanning x-ray microscopy:
current capabilities and future trends

Adam Hitchcock

Brockhouse Institute for Materials Research &
Department of Chemistry & Chemical Biology
McMaster University

Soft X-ray scanning transmission X-ray microscopy [1] is expanding rapidly at all 3rd generation sources. With the addition of practical electron [2,3] and X-ray fluorescence [4] yield detectors as well as implementation of related techniques such as ptychography [5] and local area resonant and non-resonant X-ray scattering [6], the method is more appropriately referred to as Scanning X-ray Microscopy (SXM). SXM imaging and near edge X-ray absorption (NEXAFS) spectroscopy provides chemical speciation, and quantitative chemical and orientation mapping (both geometric and magnetic) in 2-d and 3-d with sub 20 nm spatial resolution. The history of the technique and microscope principles will be outlined and the instrument at the Canadian Light Source described. The current performance of SXM will be illustrated with recent results from a wide range of scientific areas, including nanomaterials, automotive hydrogen fuel cells and bacterial nanomagnetism.

References:
[1] A.P. Hitchcock, Soft X-ray Imaging and Spectromicroscopy in Handbook on Nanoscopy, eds. Gustaaf Van Tendeloo, Dirk Van Dyck and Stephen J. Pennycook (Wiley, 2012)
[2] B. Watts, C.R. McNeill, Macromolecular Rapid Communications 31 (2010) 1706
[3] D. Nolle, M. Weigand, G. Schütz, and E. Goering, Microscopy & Microanalysis 17 (2011) 834.
[4] A.P. Hitchcock et al., Env. Sci. Tech. 46 (2012) 2821
[5] M. Beckers et al., Phys. Rev. Lett 107 (2011) 208101
[6] B. Collins et al., Nature Materials 11 (2012) 536.

This research is supported by NSERC, CFI and Canada Research Chair funding. CLS is supported by NSERC, CIHR, NRC and U. Saskatchewan. ALS (LBNL) is supported by BES, DoE.
Spectromicroscopy at the CLS: http://exshare.lightsource.ca/sm/Pages/SM-Home.aspx