Quadratic grating apodized photon sieves for simultaneous multiplane microscopy

- A novel quadratic grating apodized photon sieves is proposed.
- It has different focusing capabilities for different diffraction orders compared to traditional PSs.
- Such sieves can image multiple layers within an object field onto a single image plane.
- Our findings provide a new direction for detecting dynamic specimens by X-ray microscopy in the physical and life sciences.

We present a new type of imaging device, named quadratic grating apodized photon sieve (QGPS), used as the objective for simultaneous multiplane imaging in X-rays. The proposed QGPS is structured based on the combination of two concepts: photon sieves and quadratic gratings. Its design principles are also expounded in detail. Analysis of imaging properties of QGPS in terms of point-spread function shows that QGPS can image multiple layers within an object field onto a single image plane. Simulated and experimental results in visible light both demonstrate the feasibility of QGPS for simultaneous multiplane imaging, which is extremely promising to detect dynamic specimens by X-ray microscopy in the physical and life sciences.