High-sensitive X-ray imaging microscopes with transmission gratings

X-ray microscopy is one of promising candidates to non-destructively visualize internal structures in samples under extreme environments. We have developed a high-sensitive X-ray imaging microscope consisting of an objective lens and a transmission grating. The microscope is based on the Talbot effect of the grating and works simply by appending the grating to an X-ray imaging microscope. Our approach has several advantages over the Zernike X-ray phase-contrast microscopy that has been widely used, and can provide a powerful way of quantitative visualization with a high spatial resolution and a high sensitivity even for relatively thick samples.