Refractive x-ray optics made from polymer microstructures

Refractive X-ray lenses can be used effectively, to focus or collimate X-rays with photon energies clearly above 10 keV. On the one hand parabolic Compound Refractive Lenses (CRLs) are suitable as imaging optics in high resolution X-ray microscopy. The most recent developments are nanofocusing refractive X-ray lenses (NFLs). These show focal spot sizes of less below 100 nm. On the other hand refractive X-ray lenses can provide a high photon flux when used as large aperture condenser optics. Two types of refractive condenser optics made out of structures with triangular profile have been developed at the Institute for Microstructure Technology (IMT) at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and have been tested at synchrotron sources in recent years. One type of special interest is the Rolled X-ray Prism Lens (RXPL). These lenses are made of a rolled polymer foil structured with micro grooves with triangular profile. The combination of such condenser optics and NFLs provides a basis for future hard X-ray microscopes.