High-resolution ptychographic imaging at a seeded free-electron laser source using OAM beams

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates high-resolution ptychographic imaging using extreme ultraviolet OAM beams at a free-electron laser, achieving about 30% better resolution than Gaussian beams, enabling advanced microscopy techniques.

Contribution

It introduces the use of OAM beams generated with spiral zone plates for ptychography at a free-electron laser, improving resolution and expanding imaging capabilities.

Findings

30% resolution improvement with OAM beams over Gaussian beams

Single-shot ptychography performed at a seeded free-electron laser

Potential for sub-100 nm time-resolved microscopy

Abstract

Electromagnetic waves possessing orbital angular momentum (OAM) are powerful tools for applications in optical communications, new quantum technologies and optical tweezers. Recently, they have attracted growing interest since they can be harnessed to detect peculiar helical dichroic effects in chiral molecular media and in magnetic nanostructures. In this work, we perform single-shot per position ptychography on a nanostructured object at a seeded free-electron laser, using extreme ultraviolet OAM beams of different topological charge order $\ell$ generated with spiral zone plates. By controlling $\ell$, we demonstrate how the structural features of OAM beam profile determine an improvement of about 30% in image resolution with respect to conventional Gaussian beam illumination. This result extends the capabilities of coherent diffraction imaging techniques, and paves the way for achieving time-resolved high-resolution (below 100 nm) microscopy on large area samples.