A team of researchers in Japan has developed a new type of deformable mirror for X-ray microscopes that can achieve high resolution by correcting the wavefront shape. The mirror, made of a single crystal of lithium niobate, can adjust its shape to improve image precision at the atomic level. This breakthrough technology, created by Satoshi Matsuyama and Takato Inoue at Nagoya University, in collaboration with RIKEN and JTEC Corporation, enhances the performance of X-ray microscopes, benefiting fields like materials science and biology. The mirror’s ability to deform with atomic precision offers exceptional stability, surpassing the spatial resolution of conventional X-ray microscopy.
https://phys.org/news/2024-05-mirror-flexibly-ray-microscopes.html