I08-1 (J08): Welcome to soft X-ray ptychography at Diamond

Conventional scanning X-ray microscopes find applications in all major research fields, in many cases approaching lateral resolutions mostly limited by the diffraction properties of microprobe forming optics. This limitation in lateral resolution can be surpassed  by the so-called 'ptychography' approach, where coherent X-ray light is raster-scanned with high overlap across a specimen of interest. Diffraction patterns are recorded for each position of the raster scan and real-space images are reconstructed by computational methods.

I08-1 (previously named J08) is the Diamond soft X-ray ptychography instrument optimised for imaging and spectromicroscopy at higher lateral resolution than achievable with conventional scanning X-ray microscopes. The instrument shares beamline optics with the I08-SXM instrument and will be operated in its final optimisation stage in the 250 -2000 eV photon energy range although we offer currently only radiation in the 500-1000 eV photon energy range for imaging and 2D spectromicroscopy on a standard user operation base. The I08-1 instrument is designed for and will be upgraded to LN₂ cryogenic specimen environments in the future. 3D imaging and spectromicroscopy including dichroic imaging is currently available for experts users only.

A major vision of the I08-1 instrument is to offer automatic data reconstruction and display that allows a similar data processing as conventional scanning X-ray microscopy..