Picosecond Fourier holography using a Lloyd’s mirror and an X‐ray laser at 13.9 nm

Holographic capability of a Lloyd’s mirror wavefront‐splitting interferometer was experimentally investigated. The radiation source was a TCE Ni‐like Ag X‐ray laser at 13.9 nm, routinely operated at JAERI. The X‐ray beam was focused down to a point located a few centimeters in front of the close edge of the Lloyd’s mirror, in order to produce a near‐spherical diverging wave a portion of which, upon reflection by the mirror, recombines with the portion of the wave propagating in free space. The holographic capability of the setup was examined in two configurations. In the first configuration, pertinent to a transmission holography, a test object consisting of a 50‐μm wire was used to produce a diffracted wave encoded as holographic information in the generated interferogram. In the second configuration, SnO₂ powder with grains of ≈100 nm, deposited on the Lloyd’s mirror surface, was used to demonstrate a reflection hologram. The data obtained in both cases show that the Lloyd’s mirror is a convenient setup for holographic probing with high spatial resolution.