Nanoscale imaging of buried structures with elemental specificity using resonant x-ray diffraction microscopy

We report the first demonstration of resonant x-ray diffraction microscopy for element specific imaging of buried structures with a pixel resolution of approximately 15 nm by exploiting the abrupt change in the scattering cross section near electronic resonances. We performed nondestructive and quantitative imaging of buried Bi structures inside a Si crystal by directly phasing coherent x-ray diffraction patterns acquired below and above the Bi M5 edge. We anticipate that resonant x-ray diffraction microscopy will be applied to element and chemical state specific imaging of a broad range of systems including magnetic materials, semiconductors, organic materials, biominerals, and biological specimens.     

Coherent control of phonons probed by time-resolved x-ray diffraction

Time-resolved x-ray diffraction with picosecond temporal resolution is used to probe the product state of a coherent control experiment in which a single acoustic mode in a bulk semiconductor is driven to large amplitude or canceled out. It is demonstrated that by shaping ultrafast acoustic pulses one can coherently control the x-ray diffraction efficiency of a crystal on the time scale of a vibrational period, with application to coherent switching of x-ray beams.     

Bragg rods and multiple X-ray scattering in random-stacking colloidal crystals

Synchrotron small-angle x-ray diffraction images of random-stacking-induced Bragg scattering rods are obtained in a wide range of wave vectors from a single colloidal crystal. The results reveal a strong multiple scattering effect, which leads to new features in the diffraction pattern-secondary Bragg rods. We argue that dynamic x-ray diffraction is rather common for high-quality colloidal photonic crystals and should be taken into account.     

Fine structure of the diffraction image of an edge dislocation in high-resolution section topography

The propagation of an x-ray wave field in an elastic field of an edge dislocation crossing a scattering triangle exactly along the bisector of the scattering angle has been considered. The scattering of the x-ray wave field by a complex elastic field of the edge dislocation has been analyzed using the methods of geometrical optics. It has been established that the fine structure of a diffraction image of defects in thick crystals is determined by the differences in scattering of the normal and anomalous modes of the x-ray wave field in the vicinity of the Bragg reflection. In the case of thick crystals, the x-ray diffraction image of defects can have a symmetry different from the symmetry of the function of local misorientations of the crystal lattice. X-ray wave scattering by local distortions of the crystal lattice can occur according to two different mechanisms depending on the gradient of space changes in the deformation field. In the crystal regions where the elastic field varies slowly with a change in the distance, the x-ray wave field has had time to adjust itself to follow the course of deviations of the crystal lattice from the exact Bragg condition. In the crystal region where the elastic field changes significantly at distances of the order of the extinction length, this region leaves the reflecting position and interference scattering occurs at the interface of the region. It is important that the form of the deformation field in this case is of no significance.     

Dynamic fluctuations and static speckle in critical X-ray scattering from SrTiO3

We report a study of critical x-ray scattering from SrTiO3 near the antiferrodistortive structural phase transition at T(C) approximately 105 K. A line shape analysis of the thermal diffuse scattering results in the most precise experimental determination to date of the critical exponent gamma. The microscopic mechanism behind the anomalous "central peak" critical scattering component is clarified here by the first-ever observation of a static coherent diffraction pattern (speckle pattern) within the anomalous critical scattering of SrTiO3. This observation allows us to directly attribute the origins of the central peak to Bragg diffraction from remnant static disorder above T(C).     

Ultrafast changes of molecular crystal structure induced by dipole solvation

Femtosecond photoexcitation of organic chromophores in a molecular crystal induces strong changes of the electronic dipole moment via intramolecular charge transfer as is evident from transient vibrational spectra. The structural response of the crystal to the dipole change is mapped directly for the first time by ultrafast x-ray diffraction or diffuse scattering. Changes of diffracted and transmitted x-ray intensity demonstrate an angular rearrangement of molecules around excited dipoles following the 10 ps kinetics of charge transfer and leaving lattice plane spacings unchanged. Transient x-ray scattering is governed by solvation, masking changes of the chromophore molecular structure.     

Development of new apertures for coherent X‐ray experiments

When one performs a coherent small‐angle X‐ray scattering experiment, the incident beam must be spatially filtered by slits on a length scale smaller than the transverse coherence length of the source which is typically around 10 µm. The Fraunhofer diffraction pattern of the slit is one of the important sources of background in these experiments. New slits which minimize this parasitic background have been designed and tested. The slit configuration apodizes the beam by the use of partially transmitting inclined slit jaws. A model is presented which predicts that the high wavevector tails of the diffraction pattern fall as the inverse fourth power of the wavevector instead of the inverse second power that is observed for standard slits. Using cleaved GaAs single‐crystal edges, Fraunhofer diffraction patterns from 3 and 5.5 keV X‐rays were measured, in agreement with the theoretical model proposed. A novel phase‐peak diffraction pattern associated with phase variations of the transmitted electric field was also observed. The model proposed adequately accounts for this phenomenon.     

Coherent x-ray diffraction imaging with nanofocused illumination

Coherent x-ray diffraction imaging is an x-ray microscopy technique with the potential of reaching spatial resolutions well beyond the diffraction limits of x-ray microscopes based on optics. However, the available coherent dose at modern x-ray sources is limited, setting practical bounds on the spatial resolution of the technique. By focusing the available coherent flux onto the sample, the spatial resolution can be improved for radiation-hard specimens. A small gold particle (size <100 nm) was illuminated with a hard x-ray nanobeam (E=15.25 keV, beam dimensions approximately 100 x 100 nm2) and is reconstructed from its coherent diffraction pattern. A resolution of about 5 nm is achieved in 600 s exposure time.     

Atomic structure of cadmium sulfide nanoparticles

A method for calculating the x-ray diffraction patterns of cadmium sulfide nanoparticles with a disordered internal structure, a real surface, shape, and size is proposed within the kinematic theory of scattering. A computer analysis has revealed that the characteristic shape of the experimental x-ray diffraction patterns of cadmium sulfide films and powders is determined by a specific disordered nanoparticle structure differing from the crystal structures of wurtzite and sphalerite. According to the computer simulation, cadmium sulfide nanoparticles synthesized through chemical deposition have a shape similar to a hexagonal prism with a characteristic size of approximately 5 nm.     

SrTiO3 displacive transition revisited via coherent X-ray diffraction

We present a coherent x-ray diffraction study of the antiferrodistortive displacive transition of SrTiO3, a prototypical example of a phase transition for which the critical fluctuations exhibit two length scales and two time scales. From the microbeam x-ray coherent diffraction patterns, we show that the broad (short-length scale) and the narrow (long-length scale) components can be spatially disentangled, due to 100-microm-scale spatial variations of the latter. Moreover, both components exhibit a speckle pattern, which is static on a approximately 10 mn time scale. This gives evidence that the narrow component corresponds to static ordered domains. We interpret the speckles in the broad component as due to a very slow dynamical process, corresponding to the well-known central peak seen in inelastic neutron scattering.     

Time-resolved X-Ray diffraction from coherent phonons during a laser-induced phase transition

Time-resolved x-ray diffraction with picosecond temporal resolution is used to observe scattering from impulsively generated coherent acoustic phonons in laser-excited InSb crystals. The observed frequencies and damping rates are in agreement with a model based on dynamical diffraction theory coupled to analytic solutions for the laser-induced strain profile. The results are consistent with a 12 ps thermal electron-acoustic phonon coupling time together with an instantaneous component from the deformation-potential interaction. Above a critical laser fluence, we show that the first step in the transition to a disordered state is the excitation of large amplitude, coherent atomic motion.     

Framework for three-dimensional coherent diffraction imaging by focused beam x-ray Bragg ptychography

We present the framework for convergent beam Bragg ptychography, and, using simulations, we demonstrate that nanocrystals can be ptychographically reconstructed from highly convergent x-ray Bragg diffraction. The ptychographic iterative engine is extended to three dimensions and shown to successfully reconstruct a simulated nanocrystal using overlapping raster scans with a defocused curved beam, the diameter of which matches the crystal size. This object reconstruction strategy can serve as the basis for coherent diffraction imaging experiments at coherent scanning nanoprobe x-ray sources.     

Defect cores investigated by x-ray scattering close to forbidden reflections in silicon

A new x-ray scattering method is presented making possible the detection of defects and the investigation of the structure of their cores. The method uses diffuse x-ray scattering measured close to a forbidden diffraction peak, in which the intensity scattered from the distorted crystal lattice around the defects is minimized. As a first example of this nondestructive method we demonstrate how the local compression of the extra {111} double planes in extrinsic stacking faults in Si can be probed and quantified using a continuum approach for the simulation of the displacements. The results of the theory developed are found to be in very good agreement with atomistic simulations and experiments.     

Phonon diffraction gratings

A two-dimensional diffraction grating for phonons is described. It scatters thermal phonons strongly when their dominant wavelength is equal to the grating's lattice constant. Through measurements of the Kapitza resistance between the silicon crystal carrying the grating and liquid helium, it is shown that the scattering by the grating is predominantly coherent, as expected for phonon diffraction.     

Fine structure of the valence band top in a 3C BN crystal with a nanopore

The electronic band structure of a 3C BN boron nitride crystal with pores (r～0.3 nm) statistically distributed over the crystal is calculated by the local coherent potential method within the multiple scattering approximation. The valence band tops of crystalline (stoichiometric) and porous boron nitride are compared to the x-ray photoelectron spectrum (XPS) of BN and the soft x-ray emission spectra (SXES) of nitrogen. The origin of a short-wavelength shoulder in XPS, NK XES, and NK SXES of binary nitrides is discussed.     

X-ray diffraction microscopy of magnetic structures

We report the first proof-of-principle experiment of iterative phase retrieval from magnetic x-ray diffraction. By using the resonant x-ray excitation process and coherent x-ray scattering, we show that linearly polarized soft x rays can be used to image both the amplitude and the phase of magnetic domain structures. We recovered the magnetic structure of an amorphous terbium-cobalt thin film with a spatial resolution of about 75 nm at the Co L3 edge at 778 eV. In comparison with soft x-ray microscopy images recorded with Fresnel zone plate optics at better than 25 nm spatial resolution, we find qualitative agreement in the observed magnetic structure.     

Parametric x-ray radiation of a relativistic electron under conditions of asymmetric reflection

Coherent x-ray radiation of a relativistic electron crossing a single-crystal plate in the Laue scattering geometry is considered in a two-wave approximation of the dynamic diffraction theory [1]. Analytical expressions describing the spectral-angular distribution of parametric x-ray radiation (PXR) and diffraction transition radiation (DTR) formed on the atomic planes located at an angle δ to the crystal plate surface (asymmetric scattering) are derived. Dependence of the spectral-angular density of PXR, DTR, and their interference term on the angle δ is investigated. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 8, pp. 80–89, August, 2008.     

X-ray resonance in crystal cavities: realization of Fabry-Perot resonator for hard x rays

X-ray back diffraction from monolithic two silicon crystal plates of 25-150 microm thickness and a 40-150 microm gap using synchrotron radiation of energy resolution DeltaE = 0.36 meV at 14.4388 keV clearly show resonance fringes inside the energy gap and the total-reflection range for the (12 4 0) reflection. This cavity resonance results from the coherent interaction between the x-ray wave fields generated by the two plates with a gap smaller than the x-ray coherence length. This finding opens up new opportunities for high-resolution and phase-contrast x-ray studies, and may lead to new developments in x-ray optics.     

二维X射线衍射及其应用研究进展

介绍了三维、一维和二维X射线衍射的有关概念,给出二维X射线衍射的定义:在X射线衍射实验中使用二维探测器,并对由二维探测器记录的二维象、二维衍射花样的数据进行处理分析和解释的X射线衍射方法称为二维X射线衍射术。之后,分四部分综述二维X射线衍射(2D-XRD)和散射及其应用的进展。1)单晶样品的二维衍射包括经典的劳厄法定向和用二维探测器(带衰减底片组件、CCD和IP等)的劳厄法测定晶体结构的单晶样品现代二维衍射术;2)随后,评述多晶样品二维衍射的衍射几何、实验装置,以及在物相鉴定、应力测定和织构测定方面应用的方法和基本公式;3)二维小角散射(2D-SAXS)也作了简介。4)把一维和二维衍射术作了较全面的比较和综合评论。     

二维X射线衍射及其应用研究进展

介绍了三维、一维和二维X射线衍射的有关概念,给出二维X射线衍射的定义:在X射线衍射实验中使用二维探测器,并对由二维探测器记录的二维象、二维衍射花样的数据进行处理分析和解释的X射线衍射方法称为二维X射线衍射术。之后,分四部分综述二维X射线衍射(2D-XRD)和散射及其应用的进展。1)单晶样品的二维衍射包括经典的劳厄法定向和用二维探测器(带衰减底片组件、CCD和IP等)的劳厄法测定晶体结构的单晶样品现代二维衍射术;2)随后,评述多晶样品二维衍射的衍射几何、实验装置,以及在物相鉴定、应力测定和织构测定方面应用的方法和基本公式;3)二维小角散射(2D-SAXS)也作了简介。4)把一维和二维衍射术作了较全面的比较和综合评论。