A “water window” tomography based on a laser-plasma double-stream gas-puff target soft X-ray source

A desktop laser-plasma double-stream gas-puff target soft X-ray (SXR) source, operating in the so-called “water window” spectral range (λ = 2.3–4.4 nm). was successfully employed to acquire 3D tomographic images in transmission mode, using a Fresnel zone-plate microscope. The microscope, operating at the He-like nitrogen spectral line, 2.88-nm wavelength, allows acquiring 3D SXR volumetric reconstructions with a resolution of a few microns. The development of a compact system offers the possibility to obtain 3D reconstructed images in relatively short time and in a laboratory environment, without the involvement of large “photon facilities”, such as synchrotrons or free electron lasers, however, with the modest volume resolution at this point. The possibility to obtain three-dimensional images in the SXR wavelength range using a compact, laser-plasma based system may be useful for material and life sciences, where it is required to visualize small features of the samples in 3D that are not visible with a single 2D image. Details about the equipment and the setup constructions as well as some imaged samples will be presented and discussed.