Researchers at Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland and other institutions in Paris, Hamburg and Basel, have succeeded in setting a new record in X-ray microscopy. With improved diffractive lenses and more precise sample positioning, they were able to achieve spatial resolution in the single-digit nanometre scale. This new dimension in direct imaging could provide significant impulses for research into nanostructures and further advance the development of solar cells and new types of magnetic data storage. The findings have now been published in the renowned journal Optica with the title "Soft X-ray microscopy with 7 nm resolution."