Liquid-nitrogen-jet laser-plasma source for compact soft x-ray microscopy

We describe a liquid-nitrogen-jet laser-plasma source with sufficient brightness, uniformity, stability, and reliability to be suitable for compact water-window soft x-ray transmission microscopy. A cooled capillary nozzle arrangement allows long-term operation and avoids previously reported jet instabilities. The source is quantitatively characterized by calibrated slit-grating spectroscopy and zone-plate imaging. The absolute photon number in the major spectral lines (lambda=2.48 nm and lambda=2.88 nm) is 1.0x10(12) photons/(pulsexsrxline). The source diameter is similar to 20 mu m (full width at half maximum) and the spatial stability is better than +/- 2 mu m. Within an area with uniformity of 20%, the average source brightness is 4x10(8) photons/(pulsexsrx mu m(2)xline), which allows operation of a compact soft x-ray transmission microscope with exposure times of a few minutes. (C) American Institute of Physics.