Phase Contrast in Scanning Transmission X-ray Microscopy (STXM): Soft x-ray spectromicroscopy (ca. 250-1000 eV X-ray energy) provides high contrast, high resolution (sub-50 nm) absorption images of wet organic and inorganic specimens with sensitivity to the molecular binding of elements including carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, nickel, and iron. Hard x-ray microprobes (ca. 10 keV energy) can be used for the mapping of trace amounts of many elements. However, in both microscopes it is desirable to use phase contrast to see fine structure with greater detail, and in particular with hard x-rays the only way one can see structural detail in soft tissues is via phase contrast.

I am working on the development and application of a segmented silicon detector to record absorption, phase and darkfield images simultaneously in a Scanning Transmission X-ray Microscope (STXM). The method shows particular strength in combination with other techniques like fluorescence, e.g., for estimating the total carbon content in a sample from absolute phase shift measurements, or in showing the underlying biological structure when measuring trace metal concentrations.
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