An improved x-ray microscope with a fully electronic CCD detector system ha
s been constructed that allows improved laboratory-based microstructural in
vestigations of materials with hard x rays. It uses the Kirkpatrick-Baez mu
ltilayer mirror design to form an image that has a demonstrated resolution
of 4 mu m at 8 keV (Cu K-alpha radiation). This microscope performs well wi
th standard sealed-tube laboratory x-ray sources, producing digital images
with 20-s exposure times for a 5-mu m Au grid (a thickness of two absorptio
n lengths). (C) 2000 Optical Society of America OCIS codes: 340.0340, 340.7
440, 340.7460.