The Measurement of MTFs in X-ray Microscopy Using Diffractograms

摘要

A novel method to characterize the optical performance of a high-resolution transmission x-ray microscope is presented. It makes use of test patterns that consist of random arrays of sub-resolution holes in a thin metal film, and so approximate to white-noise input signals for the microscope. The test patterns have been fabricated by electron-beam lithography at length scales appropriate for the resolution available in x-ray microscopy, so that diffractograms produced from the image data can be directly interpreted in terms of the contrast transfer function of the optical system. Results of this method are shown for both brightfield and differential phase contrast imaging.