X-ray microscopes have about ten times better resolution than visible light microscopes with currently available optics. Absorption spectroscopy and fluorescence allows to map the elemental and chemical composition of the sample. X-ray microscopy applications cover a wide range including structural biology, colloid research, magnetism, and materials science.

Bruker ASC offers both full-field microscopes for standalone and synchrotron sources (LTXM and TXM) and scanning X-ray microscopes (STXM). Furthermore, Bruker offers the X-ray optical bench system, where optical elements, samples and detectors can be arranged freely for custom experiments.

Full-field microscopes are particularly well suited for tomography of biological samples, whereas scanning microscopes are used for spectromicroscopy, fluorescence imaging and measurements with high time resolution.