Refractive Lenses for Microscopy and Nanoanalysis

X-rays offer indispensable opportunities for science, medicine, and technology due to a large variety of exceptional properties. The large penetration depth of X-rays in matter allows one to investigate the inner structures of an object without destructive sample preparation, or inside special sample environments, such as chemical reactors or pressure cells. In this way, X-rays are ideally suited to study physical and chemical processes in situ and operando. In addition, X-ray analytical techniques, such as X-ray diffraction, fluorescence, and absorption, provide atomic-scale structure information, elemental concentrations, and the chemical state of a given elemental species inside the sample. With the advent of highly brilliant synchrotron radiation sources of the third generation, it became possible to combine X-ray analytics with microscopy, triggering the rapid development of new types of optics for X-rays, amongst which refractive X-ray lenses have progressed at a spectacular pace.