May 9, 2008--The Optical Society of America (OSA; Washington, DC) and New Focus (San Jose, CA), a Bookham brand, announced that Richard Sandberg, from JILA and the University of Colorado at Boulder, is the winner of the 2008 OSA - New Focus/Bookham Student Award, which recognizes student researchers who exemplify the skills critical to scientific achievement: excellence in research, presentation, and leadership.

Sandberg won for his work in "70 nm Lensless Diffractive Microscopy using Tabletop Soft X-Ray Sources." Sandberg uses curvature correction and high-numerical-aperture imaging to demonstrate a soft-x-ray diffraction microscope with 70 to 90 nm resolution using two tabletop coherent sources. The near-diffraction-limited resolution of 1.5λ is a first for x-ray diffractive imaging.

For more information on the 2008 finalists, please see the press release at www.cleoconference.org/media_center/new-focus-award.aspx.