Seminars Archive

Versatile lithium fluoride thin-film solid-state detectors for nanoscale soft X-ray imaging.

Abstract
Point defects in insulating materials are successfully used for radiation detectors. Among them, colour centres in lithium fluoride (LiF) are well known for application in dosimeters and in light-emitting devices and lasers. At ENEA, LiF thin-film imaging detectors for extreme ultraviolet radiation and soft X-rays, based on photoluminescence from aggregate electronic defects in LiF, are currently under development for imaging application with laboratory radiation sources, as well as large-scale facilities. After X-ray exposure, the latent images stored in the LiF thin layers are read with fluorescence optical microscopy techniques. Among the peculiarities of these LiF solid-state radiation imaging detectors, noteworthy ones are their very high intrinsic spatial resolution (50 - 250 nm) across a large field of view ( > 1 cm^2) and wide dynamic range. Moreover, they are easy to handle, as insensitive to ambient light and no development process is needed. The use of thin films favours integration in different experimental apparatus and configurations. Soft X-ray imaging results on LiF radiation detectors obtained by our group and around the world will be presented and discussed, with peculiar emphasis on lens-less and single-shot experiments.