Terminal contact elements of insect attachment devices studied by transmission X-ray microscopy.

For the first time, the terminal elements (spatulae) of setal (hairy) attachment devices of the beetle Gastrophysa viridula (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae) and the fly Lucilia caesar (Diptera, Calliphoridae) were studied using transmission X-ray microscopy (TXM) with a lateral resolution of about 30 nm. Since images are taken under ambient conditions, we demonstrate here that this method can be applied to study the contact behaviour of biological systems, including animal tenent setae, in a fresh state. We observed that the attached spatulae show a viscoelastic behavior increasing the contact area and providing improved adaptability to the local topography of the surface. The technique can be extended to TXM tomography, which would provide three-dimensional information and a deeper insight into the details of insect attachment structures.

On the imaging of the flux-line lattice of a type-II superconductor by soft X-ray absorption microscopy.

A new method is proposed for the imaging of the flux-line lattice of a type-II superconductor by soft X-ray absorption microscopy. It is shown that the method is very demanding but probably realisable in the foreseeable future. The new method has the potential to image in real space static and dynamical properties of the flux-line lattice at arbitrary external fields and with single-flux-line resolution.

Magnetic domains in nanostructured media studied with M-TXM.

Combining X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (X-MCD) with a transmission X-ray microscope (TXM) allows to image element-specifically magnetic domain structures with 25nm lateral resolution. Both in-plane and out-of-plane systems can be studied in applied magnetic fields. Thus field-dependent parameters, as individual nucleation fields in magnetic nanostructures can be deduced and related to morphology. Images of thermomagnetically written bits in magneto-optical TbFeCo media proof the reliability of the writing process and the importance of an exact thermal design of the systems. Domains observed at corresponding Co L edges proof the chemical sensitivity of M-TXM and its potential to image few monolayer systems.