Tabletop coherent diffractive microscopy with soft x-ray illumination from high harmonic generation at 29 nm and 13.5 nm

Soft x-ray microscopy allows imaging at higher resolution than is possible with optical wavelengths. At the same time, it allows imaging of the internal structure of thick samples that cannot be viewed with electron microscopy. Optics for the soft x-ray region of the spectrum are limited, but coherent diffractive imaging techniques use computerized image reconstruction in place of a lens to form high-resolution images with x-rays. This dissertation presents a practical soft x-ray diffractive microscope with sub-100 nm resolution using tabletop coherent soft x-rays at 13.5 nm and 29 nm [1]. This represents the first demonstration of tabletop coherent imaging with 13.5 nm from high harmonics. Images with holography and phase retrieval are shown, with near-diffraction-limited resolution down to 53 nm [2--4]. The first tabletop diffractive images of biological samples with 13.5 nm and 29 nm beams are also shown [5]. This thesis also presents work on the construction of a high-power, high-repetition-rate laser amplifier implementing carrier-envelope phase stabilization. CEP stabilization provides unprecedented levels of control over the full electric field of an ultrafast laser. The first stage of the amplifier was stabilized to 250 mrad CEP noise on 100s timescales. The route to stabilizing the full 10 kHz, 30 W amplifier is outlined. This laser will be used for future coherent diffractive imaging applications at using high harmonic generation at 13.5 nm and shorter wavelengths, and will also be used for time-resolved studies of molecular dissociation [6].