Highlights

LILIT beamline is devoted to the fabrication of structures at micro and nano resolution level.
By clicking the upper links some recent application are illustrated.


Focused X-Ray Vortices

We designed and fabricated amplitude DOEs to generate X-ray vortices with high TC and tested them in scanning and full field microscope setup configurations. DOE function is calculated summing a helical wave with a desired TC to a spherical wave. In the scanning setup we used a the DOE as microscope objective and demonstrated the doughnut intensity pattern characteristic to the vortex but we could not characterize the phase distribution.


In the full field X-ray experiment [1] we used larger DOEs that generate a high focused TC vortex (l=32). The vortex DOE, fabricated at TASC-LILIT beamline, has the following characteristics: 220 nm gold on 100 nm silicon nitrade membrane, 300 nm resolution, 614 um diameter, 111 mm focal length at 720 eV. The DOE, placed in the condenser position converts the X-ray input beam into a helical beam focused in the sample plane where the intensity pattern is a doughnut with radius proportional to the square root of the topological charge.
In order to characterize also the phase distribution characteristic to the vortex field we used the interference between the zero order beam and the vortex.

The obtained interference pattern demonstrates the phase distribution characteristic to the optical vortex with the topological charge l=32. Possible applications of the interaction of these beams with the matter [2] are also discussed.

References

[1] Di Fabrizio E., Cojoc D., Cabrini S., Kaulich B., Susini J., Facci P., Wilhein T., Optics Express, 11, 2278-2288, (2003)
[2] A. Alexandrescu, D. Cojoc, and E. Di Fabrizio, Phys.Rev. Lett. 96, 243001 (2006).



Microfluidics - IR

Micro-fluidic is a field of science and technology which deals with small fluid's volumes (< 1 µl) and allows to observe biological samples under mimicked physiological conditions. LILIT is developing in collaboration with SISSI IR beam line a microfluidic set-up in order to perform µ-FTIR on living cells.


Lilit group is developing in a joint collaboration with SISSI’s bio-branch of Elettra methodologies and technologies to transform InfraRed Micro Spectroscopy(IRMS) into a mature technique to observe in real time biological events, and improving its ability to perform in vitro bio-experiments under physiological conditions. By applying micro-fabrication approach, we are developing Microfluidic platforms IR-VIS transparent, by using which is possibile to observe the live response of cells subjected to external stimulation (mechanical/chemical)
 
Last Updated on Tuesday, 27 December 2011 14:11