In the paper new experimental techniques for nano-imaging and nano-spectroscopy operating with electromagnetic radiation in the nanometer wavelength range (soft X-rays - SXR and extreme ultraviolet – EUV) are presented. SXR and EUV radiation is generated using laser plasma sources in which a laser plasma is produced by irradiation of a gas puff target with nanosecond laser pulses at intensities of about 1011-1012 Wcm-2 in the interaction region. Commercially available Nd:YAG lasers (EXPLA) generating 4 ns pulses with energy up to 0.8 J at 10 Hz repetition rate are used to irradiate the targets that are formed by pulsed injection of working gas (Xe, Kr, Ar, N2) in an additional annular stream of He gas under high-pressure using a double-nozzle set up (a double-stream gas puff target approach [1]). Laboratory microscopy systems with the use of compact laser plasma sources of soft X-rays and EUV, operating in the ‘water window’ spectral range (wavelength: 2.3–4.4 nm; photon energy: 280–560 eV) or the EUV range at the wavelength of 13.8 nm have been developed [2]. Application of these microscopes for nano-imaging of hydrated and dry biological samples with spatial resolution from 50 nm to 100 nm and relatively short exposition time is presented. Moreover, a recently developed laboratory system for the near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy [3] is also presented. The new NEXAFS system has been used for elemental composition analysis of polymer samples.
[1] H. Fiedorowicz et al. Appl. Phys. B 70 (2000) 305
[2] P. Wachulak et al. Appl. Sci. 7 (2017) 548
[3] P. Wachulak et al. (2018) - submitted
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