Laboratory-Based Soft X-Ray Tomography: A Novel Laser Design, Source Monitoring, and Data-Processing Workflow

Authors: Aurélie Dehlinger, Valentina Alberini, Vladimir Usatikov, Céline Dyhring, Sarah Jung, Jonas Grage, Daniel Grötzsch, Johannes Tümmler, Stefan Rehbein, Holger Stiel, Birgit Kanngießer, and Christian Seim

Institutions:

• Technische Universität Berlin, Institut für Physik und Astronomie, Hardenbergstr. 36 Berlin 10623, Germany
• Berlin Laboratory for Innovative X-ray Technologies (BLiX), Hardenbergstr. 36, Berlin 10623, Germany
• Max-Born-Institut (MBI) im Forschungsverbund Berlin e.V., Max-Born-Str. 2A, Berlin 12489, Germany
• Department X-ray Microscopy, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie GmbH, Elektronenspeicherring BESSY II, Albert-Einstein-Str. 15, Berlin 12489, Germany

Pushing the Limits of In-Lab X-ray Microscopy

A 2025 publication by Dehlinger et al. reports major progress in upgrading a laboratory-based X-ray microscope capable of full cellular, stain-free imaging. The research team achieved these results by improving their laboratory soft X-ray microscope’s (L-TXM) plasma source and refining the data-processing pipeline for 3D tomography.²

A Water Window into Microscopic Life

The state-of-the-art microscope exploits the so-called water window (an X-ray energy range where carbon and oxygen absorb very differently) to obtain natural contrast between organic material, in this case carbon-based life, and the water that surrounds it.² Using this method, cryo-fixed hydrated cells can be viewed at a high level of detail without the need for staining, thus limiting artificial modification of the cellular structure.¹

By designing and constructing this technology in the form of a laboratory-based setup, high-resolution structural data on intact cells can be obtained directly at the host institution of the research group, eliminating the need to rely on high-in-demand synchrotron radiation facilities, where available measuring time is usually limited.