A team of researchers in Japan has engineered a mirror for X-rays that can be flexibly shaped, resulting in remarkable precision at the atomic level and increased stability. The new technology developed by Satoshi Matsuyama and Takato Inoue at the Graduate School of Engineering of Nagoya University, in collaboration with RIKEN and JTEC Corporation, improves the performance of X-ray microscopes and other technologies that use X-ray mirrors.
To optimize their mirror, the researchers looked at piezoelectric materials. These materials are useful because they can deform or change shape when an electric field is applied. This allows the material to reshape itself to respond to even minor aberrations in the detected wave. When they tested their new device, Matsuyama's team found that their X-ray microscope exceeded expectations. Its high resolution makes it especially suitable for observing microscopic objects, such as semiconductor device components. Compared to the spatial resolution of conventional X-ray microscopy , their technique has the potential to develop a microscope that provides a resolution about 10 times better because the aberration correction brings it closer to the ideal resolution.