The illustrations show a refraction (left) and absorption (right) contrast image of a leaf. Medical x-rays are usually based on absorption, making it difficult to visualize soft tissues, where there is little difference between the absorption of x-rays by the different elements. By contrast, refraction contrast takes advantage of small differences in density, so it can be used for soft tissues.

These x-ray diffraction images of synthetic diamond crystals taken with the large-size coherent X-ray beam on the 1,000-m beamline show lattice defects. High coherence large-area X-rays permit observation of lattice defects such as dislocations and stacking faults with high spatial resolution in a short time.

This large-scale separated x-ray interferometer permits measurement of the interactions between photons and gravity. Minute phase shifts can be seen between two x-ray beams passing through light paths at different heights.

Various experimental techniques using x-ray interferometry are being developed for the 27-m undulator beamline that was completed in October 2000. Plans are underway for magnetic material investigation under a 15-tesla magnetic field and element-specific scanning tunneling microscopy for surface analysis based on non-linear optics studies that synchronize laser and synchrotron light. A completely separated bi-crystal X-ray interferometer, for the first time in the world ,was successfully operated at the beamline.