X-ray nanobeam diffraction imaging of materials

Unprecedented tools to image crystalline structure distributions in materials have been made possible by recent advances in X-ray sources, X-ray optics and X-ray methods. Nanobeams combined with diffraction have made it possible to image parameters that were traditionally only addressed as ensemble averages. This enables the study of highly heterogeneous materials such as microelectronic devices and opens a new field of material science on the mesoscale. Coherent nanobeams offer the opportunity to image nanomaterials in three dimensions with a resolution far smaller than the focused beam size. This has opened up new fields in X-ray diffraction in general and has become one of the main drivers for the enhancement of existing, and the construction of new, large scale scientific infrastructure projects around the world.