Soft X-ray contact microscopy of botanical material using laser produced plasmas or synchrotron radiation

The use of soft x-ray contact microscopy (SXCM) allows biological specimens to be imaged with a resolution better than that possible with the light microscope (LM), but not as good as that obtained with the transmission electron microscope (TEM). Unlike TEM however, it is possible to image wet biological specimens that require no pretreatment before imaging. For TEM specimens need to be chemically fixed, dehydrated, embedded and sectioned before examination, any one of these preparative steps can, and does, introduce artefacts, thus the development of any technique which eliminates or reduces the possibility of artefacts will be of great advantage