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[en] We describe a revolutionary new approach to high spectral resolution soft x-ray optics. Conventionally in the soft x-ray energy range, high spectral resolution is obtained by use of a relatively low line density grating operated in 1st order with small slits. This severely limits throughput. This limitation can be removed by use of a grating either in very high order, or with very high line density, if one can maintain high diffraction efficiency. We have developed a new technology for achieving both of these goals which should allow high throughput spectroscopy, at resolving powers of up to 10⁶ at 1 keV. Such optics should provide a revolutionary advance for high resolution lifetime free spectroscopy, such as RIXS, and for pulse compression of chirped beams. We report recent developmental fabrication and characterization of a prototype grating optimized for 14.2 nm EUV light. The prototype grating with a 200 nm period of the blazed grating substrate coated with 20 Mo/Si bilayers with a period of 7.1 nm demonstrates good dispersion in the third order (effective groove density of 15,000 lines per mm) with a diffraction efficiency of more than 33%.

[en] Multilayer-coated Blazed Gratings (MBG) can offer high diffraction efficiency in a very high diffraction order and are therefore of great interest for high-resolution EUV and soft x-ray spectroscopy techniques such as Resonance Inelastic X-ray Scattering. However, realization of the MBG concept requires nano-scale precision in fabrication of a saw-tooth substrate with atomically smooth facets, and reproduction of the blazed groove profile in the course of conformal growth of a multilayer coating. We report on recent progress achieved in the development, fabrication, and characterization of ultra-dense MBGs for EUV and soft x-rays. As a result of thorough optimization of all steps of the fabrication process, an absolute diffraction efficiency as high as 44% and 12.7% was achieved for a 5250 l/mm grating in the EUV and soft x-ray regions respectively. This work now shows a direct route to achieving high diffraction efficiency in high order at wavelengths throughout the soft x-ray energy range with revolutionary applications in synchrotron science.

[en] Ultra high resolution three dimensional images of a microscopic test object were made with soft x-rays using a scanning transmission x-ray microscope. The test object consisted of two different patterns of gold bars on silicon nitride windows which were separated by ∼ 5μm. Depth resolution comparable to the transverse resolution was achieved by recording nine 2-D images of the object at angles between -50 to +55 degrees with respect to the beam axis. The projections were then combined tomographically to form a 3-D image using an algebraic reconstruction technique (ART) algorithm. We observed a transverse resolution of ∼1000 A. Artifacts in the reconstruction limited the overall depth resolution to ∼6000 A, however some features were clearly reconstructed with a depth resolution of ∼1000 A

[en] Recent advances in the development of high peak brightness table-top extreme ultraviolet (EUV) and soft x-ray (SRX) lasers have opened new opportunities for the demonstration of compact full-field EUV/SXR microscopes capable of capturing images with short exposures down to a single laser shot. We demonstrate the practical application of table-top zone plate EUV microscopes that can image nanostructures with a spatial resolution of 54 nm and below and exposure times as short as 1.2 ns, the duration of a single laser shot.