New Opportunities at Soft-X-Ray Wavelengths

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Abstract
A once dark region of the electromagnetic spectrum is now becoming very bright. The soft‐x‐ray spectral region, nominally extending from wavelengths of several angstroms to several hundred angstroms and including photon energies from tens of electron volts to several thousand electron volts, is providing many new research and development opportunities in the physical and life sciences and in industry. The move toward shorter wavelengths is driven in part by the desire to see and write smaller features. But the numerous and distinct atomic resonances in this region of the spectrum also provide for elemental identification and, in some cases, chemical sensitivity. (See the article by Bernd Crasemann and Francois Wuilleumier in PHYSICS TODAY, June 1984, page 34.) Developments in x‐ray optics and new sources of highbrightness, partially coherent radiation make it possible to study materials and biological samples with feature sizes of several hundred angstroms.