Observation of living cells by x-ray microscopy with a laser-plasma x-ray source

We studied laser-produced plasma as an x-ray source for x-ray microscopy. Using water- window x rays, contact x-ray images of living sea urchin sperm were taken by a 500 picosecond x-ray pulse. The resist relief was examined by atomic force microscope and informations characteristic of x-ray microscopy were obtained. The finest feature noticed in the x-ray image was 0.1 micrometers .