X-Ray Microscopy: A Comparative Assessment with Other Microscopies

Some analogies will be considered here between imaging in the scanning transmission X-ray microscope (STXM) and imaging in both the scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM) and the scanning optical microscope (SOM). Such analogies are valuable especially when the influence of source coherence and of detector configurations is being considered. The theory of scanned image formation first evaluated for the STEM, and elaborated for the SOM can, in general, be carried over to a discussion of imaging in the STXM. Similarly, discussions of convergent beam electron diffraction (CBED) assist in the consideration of convergent beam X-ray diffraction (CBXD) relevant to imaging with a convergent X-ray probe.