Contributions to Soft X-Ray Diffraction Imaging and Diffractive Optics.

Developments in soft X-ray diffraction pattern analysis of non-crystalline micro-objects and a scheme of fabricating high resolution Fresnel zone plates through the holographic method are presented. For clarity, they are abstracted separately below. (1) High Resolution Zone Plate Fabrication by Holographic Spatial Frequency Multiplication. The possibility of high resolution zone plate generation by a spatial frequency multiplication technique is analyzed theoretically. Demonstration of the scheme with visible laser light and a study of the considerations which will be involved in the use of soft X-rays are presented. (2) Soft X-ray Diffraction Pattern Analysis of Non-Crystalline Micro-objects. The feasibility of soft X-ray diffraction pattern analysis is considered. The benefits of going from 1A X-rays to the soft X-rays (wave -length range 10-100A) for imaging non-multicopy micro-objects with diffraction are discussed. Soft X-ray diffraction patterns obtained in a computer simulation work are presented. Achievements in recording soft X-ray diffraction patterns are described and further developments are discussed. In addition, an application to muscle study is reported.