X-ray optics

Article By:

Sakdinawat, Anne SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California.

Attwood, David Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, University of California, Berkeley, California.

Last reviewed:June 2020

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.750900

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• X-ray optics, published June 2014:Download PDF Get Adobe Acrobat Reader

The scientific field focusing on the interaction of x-rays with matter and on the x-ray optical elements that are used to manipulate x-rays in time and space. When W. K. Röntgen discovered x-rays or “X-Strahlen” in 1895, he observed their attenuation but originally thought that it was not possible to manipulate x-rays by commonly known light interactions such as reflection or refraction. However, over the next century, as scientists continued to study x-rays, and as fabrication technology advanced into the nanoscale regime, x-ray optical elements started becoming available and the field of x-ray optics made significant advances, enabling new scientific and technical capabilities. Applications such as extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) lithography and x-ray microscopy benefit from the short wavelength, large penetration depths (in the case of higher-energy x-rays), and chemical and elemental specificity.

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