As a unique coherent diffraction imaging method, X-ray ptychography has an ultrahigh resolution of several nanometers for extended samples. However, ptychography is often degraded by various noises that are mixed with diffracted signals on the detector. Some of the noises can transform into periodic artifacts (PAs) in reconstructed images, which is a basic problem in raster-scan ptychography. Herein, we propose a novel periodic-artifact suppressing algorithm (PASA) and present a new understanding of PAs or raster-grid pathology generation mechanisms, which include static intensity (SI) as an important cause of PAs. The PASA employs a gradient descent scheme to iteratively separate the SI pattern from original datasets and a probe support constraint applied in the object update. Both simulative and experimental data reconstructions demonstrated the effectiveness of the new algorithm in suppressing PAs and improving ptychography resolution and indicated a better performance of the PASA method in PA removal compared to other mainstream algorithms. In the meantime, we provided a complete description of SI conception and its key role in PA generation. The present work enhances the feasibility of raster-scan ptychography and could inspire new thoughts for dealing with various noises in ptychography.

Scanning transmission X-ray microscopy (STXM) is a direct imaging technique with nanoscale resolution. But its resolution is limited by the spot size on the sample, i.e., by the manufacturing technique of the focusing element. As an emerging high-resolution X-ray imaging technique, ptychography utilizes highly redundant data from overlapping scans as well as phase retrieval algorithms to simultaneously reconstruct a high-resolution sample image and a probe function. In this study, we designed an accurate reconstruction strategy to obtain the probe spot with the vibration effects being eliminated, and developed an image enhancement technique for STXM by combining the reconstructed probe with the deconvolution algorithm. This approach significantly improves the resolution of STXM imaging and can break the limitation of the focal spot on STXM resolution when the scanning step size is near or below the spot size, while the data processing time is much shorter than that of ptychography. Both simulations and experiments show that this approach can be applied to STXM data at different energies and different scan steps using the same focal spot retrieved via ptychography.

An online automatic feedback system has been successfully installed and commissioned at the BL08U1A Soft X-ray Spectromicroscopy Beamline of Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility, which can monitor the incident X-ray beam in real time by measuring the blade-edge signals of the exit slit and automatically adjust the elliptical cylindrical mirror parameters to achieve beam calibration and maintain the optimal X-ray flux of the sample. This work provides a comprehensive description of the hardware composition, system implementation, feedback logic, function and software design, system optimization and commission, as well as the online experimental results supported by the system. The experimental results demonstrated that the online automatic feedback system is capable of effectively maintaining the optimal X-ray beam flux for X-ray absorption spectroscopy experiments. Its success can provide valuable technique assistance for the design, construction and optimization of similar systems at various beamlines in synchrotron sources in the future.

The scanning transmission X-ray microscopy (STXM) platform based on synchrotron radiation has achieved nanoscale imaging with chemical sensitivity using spectro-microscopy techniques. However, the quality of STXM imaging is affected by the stability of the beam intensity. The top-up operation mode of synchrotrons to maintain a constant electron beam intensity introduces periodic fluctuations in the X-ray beam intensity, leading to notable imaging noise that decreases both contrast and precision. To address this issue, a high-speed real-time beam intensity monitoring system was designed and implemented at the BL08U1A beamline of the Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility. This system utilizes an yttrium–aluminium–garnet crystal along with dual detectors having an acquisition frequency of up to 1 MHz and a synchronization error of less than 20 ns between them. This system can precisely and synchronously monitor the X-ray beam intensity variations which are used to remove noise due to electron injection from STXM images, thereby markedly improving the quality of STXM imaging.

The EUV light emitted by the synchrotron radiation source exhibits a stable wavelength and pollution-free characteristics, making it highly suitable for technical verification in diverse EUV lithography applications and playing a pivotal role in EUV lithography industry research. To guide the EUV light from the beamline into the experimental platform, this paper proposes a deflection system design based on the Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF). This system enables beamline diagnostics for EUV light while facilitating precise positioning and performance testing of the Mo/Si multilayer planar deflection mirror. The deflection system achieves accurate installation and alignment through a coordinate transfer protocol. By imaging the EUV incident light spot on a scintillator and analyzing variations in EUV light intensity data before and after the deflection mirror, the system can accurately measure focused light spot parameters from the beamline and achieve submicron alignment accuracy with 10 μrad angular resolution for the deflection mirror. The proposed design provides valuable insights for advancing EUV lithography technology utilizing synchrotron radiation sources.

Dynamic behavior is prevalent in biological and condensed matter systems at the nano- and mesoscopic scales. Typically, we capture images as “snapshots” to demonstrate the evolution of a system, and coherent X-ray diffraction imaging (CDI), as a lensless imaging technique, provides a nanoscale resolution, allowing us to clearly observe these microscopic phenomena. This paper presents a new dynamic CDI method based on zone-plate optics aiming to overcome the limitations of existing techniques in imaging fast dynamic processes by integrating the spatio-temporal dual constraint with a probe constraint. In this method, the modulus-enforced probe constraint and the temporal correlation of the dynamic sample low-frequency information are exploited and combined with an empty static region constraint in the dynamic sample. Using this method, we achieved a temporal resolution of 20 Hz and a spatial resolution of 13.2 nm, which were verified by visualized experimental results. Further comparisons showed that the reconstructed images were consistent with the ptychography reconstruction results, confirming the accuracy and feasibility of the method. This work is expected to provide a new tool for materials science and mesoscopic life sciences, promoting a deeper understanding of complex dynamic processes.