Nanometer spatial resolution achieved in hard x-ray imaging and Laue diffraction experiments.

Tapered glass capillaries have successfully condensed hard x-ray beams to ultrasmall dimensions providing unprecedented spatial resolution for the characterization of materials. A spatial resolution of 50 nanometers was obtained while imaging a lithographically prepared gold pattern with x-rays in the energy range of 5 to 8 kiloelectron volts. This is the highest resolution scanning x-ray image made to date with hard x-rays. With a beam 360 nanometers in diameter, Laue diffraction was observed from the smallest sample volume ever probed by x-ray diffraction, 5 x 10(-3) cubic micrometers.