Structured illumination microscopy with extreme ultraviolet pulses

• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2403.19382
• Publication Date: 2024-01-01
• Authors: Mincigrucci, R.; Paltanin, E.; Pelli-Cresi, J. -S.; Gala, F.; Pontecorvo, E.; Foglia, L.; De Angelis, D.; Fainozzi, D.; Gessini, A.; Molina, D. S. P.; Stranik, O.; Wechsler, F.; Heintzmann, R.; Ruocco, G.; Bencivenga, F.; Masciovecchio, C.
• Keywords: Condensed Matter - Other Condensed Matter; FOS: Physical sciences; Physics - Optics; Optics (physics.optics); Other Condensed Matter (cond-mat.other)

The relentless pursuit of understanding matter at ever-finer scales has pushed optical microscopy to surpass the diffraction limit and produced the super-resolution microscopy which enables visualizing structures shorter than the wavelength of light. In the present work, we harnessed extreme ultraviolet beams to create a sub-μm grating structure, which was revealed by extreme ultraviolet structured illumination microscopy. This achievement marks the first step toward extending such a super-resolution technique into the X-ray regime, where achieving atomic-scale resolution becomes a charming possibility.