Abstract

The exciting field of x-ray microscopy, With interesting applications in both the physical and life sciences, is enhanced by recent developments in both x-ray optics and undulator radiation. A dose cousin of the free electron laser, undulator radiation is based on the passage of highly relativistic uncorrelated electrons through a periodic magnet structure. In modern storage rings this is accomplished with a very small phase-space electron beam, comparable with that of diffraction-limited radiation at x-ray wavelengths. Sustained by a very narrow forward radiation cone, the resultant radiation has very interesting properties of both spatial and temporal coherence, suitable for diffraction-limited focusing and phase sensitive experimentation.

© 1990 Optical Society of America