Laboratory x-ray microscopy on high brilliance sources equipped with waveguides

We report on the experimental realization of propagation-based x-ray microscopy with laboratory sources equipped with waveguides. We discuss about the experimental setup, the fabrication steps, and the characterization procedures of the waveguide optics. We demonstrate that the system enables high resolution attenuation imaging of poorly absorbing biological specimens. Furthermore, we report the successful realization of propagation-based phase contrast x-ray microscopy, enabling quantitative thickness estimation in homogeneous objects. Advantages and major limitations of the experimental scheme are presented and discussed.