We demonstrate in-line phase-contrast imaging of nanothickness foils by using a relatively large, polychromatic, debris-free femtosecond-laser-driven cluster-based plasma soft x-ray source, and a high-resolution, large dynamic range LiF crystal detector. The spatial coherence length of radiation in our setup reached a value of $5\mathrm{\mu m}$ on the sample plane, which is enough to observe phase-contrast enhancement in the images registered by the detector placed only a few hundred micrometers behind the object. We have developed a tabletop soft x-ray emission source, which emits radiation within a $4\pi \mathrm{sr}$ solid angle, and which allows one to obtain contact and propagation-based phase-contrast imaging of nanostructures with $700\mathrm{nm}$ spatial resolutions. This advance could be of utility for metrology applications.

© 2009 Optical Society of America

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