Dual-beam X-ray nano-holotomography.

Nanotomography with hard X-rays is a widely used technique for high-resolution imaging, providing insights into the structure and composition of various materials. In recent years, tomographic approaches based on simultaneous illuminations of the same sample region from different angles by multiple beams have been developed at micrometre image resolution. Transferring these techniques to the nanoscale is challenging due to the loss in photon flux by focusing the X-ray beam. We present an approach for multi-beam nanotomography using a dual-beam Fresnel zone plate (dFZP) in a near-field holography setup. The dFZP generates two nano-focused beams that overlap in the sample plane, enabling the simultaneous acquisition of two projections from slightly different angles. This first proof-of-principle implementation of the dual-beam setup allows for the efficient removal of ring artifacts and noise using machine-learning approaches. The results open new possibilities for full-field multi-beam nanotomography and pave the way for future advancements in fast holotomography and artifact-reduction techniques.

Perfect Control of Diffraction Patterns with Phase-Gradient Metasurfaces.

Phase-gradient metasurfaces (PGMs) constitute an efficient platform for deflection of a beam in a desired direction. According to the generalized Snell's law, the direction of the reflected/refracted wave can be tuned by the spatial phase function provided by the PGMs. However, most studies on PGM focus only on a single diffraction order, that is, the incident wave can be reflected or refracted to a single target direction. Even in the case of multiple beams pointing in different directions, the beams are still in the same order mode, and the energy carried by different beams cannot be controlled. In addition, the energy ratio of multiple beams is generally uncontrollable. Here, we propose a general method to perfectly control diffraction patterns based on a multi-beam PGM. An analytical solution for arbitrarily controlling diffraction beams is derived through which the generation and energy distribution in high-order diffraction beams can be achieved. Three metasurfaces with different diffraction orders and energy ratios are designed and fabricated to demonstrate the proposed method. The efficiencies of diffraction for the desired channels are close to 100%. The simulated and measured far-field patterns are in good agreement with theoretical predictions, validating the proposed method that provides a new way to design multi-beam antennas and that has significance in wireless communication applications.