So-called Fresnel zone plate spectrometers offer new and more efficient ways of conducting experiments using soft X-rays. In a study published in the journal Optics Express, scientists have presented the design for a reflection zone plate which simplifies the extremely complicated measurements on chemically and biologically relevant systems that have hitherto been difficult to conduct. A second study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, presents a spectrometer that uses a transmission zone plate, which can be used to carry out complex investigations of such systems in a small number of steps. These studies were carried out by scientists working at DESY, the Helmholtz Centre for Materials and Energy in Berlin, the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland and the Göttingen Campus (Göttingen University and Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry).