SNOM images of X-ray radiographs at nano-scale stored in a thin layer of lithium fluoride

In this work, we report a method to observe soft X-ray radiographs at nanoscale of various kind of samples, biological and metallic, stored in a thin layer of lithium fluoride, employing scanning near-field optical microscopy with an optical resolution that reaches 50 nm. lithium fluoride material works as a novel image detector for X-ray nano-radiographs, due to the fact that extreme ultraviolet radiation and soft X-rays efficiently produce stable point defects emitting optically stimulated visible luminescence in a thin surface layer. The bi-dimensional distribution of the so-created defects depends on the local nanostructure of the investigated sample. © 2008 The Authors.