Abstract

Several desirable characteristics make single crystal beryllium films and Be-Ge heterostructures of interest in various areas. Because of its very low absorption at soft x-ray wavelengths,¹ Be is attractive to the x-ray optics community for use as a spacer material in multilayer mirrors. Such mirrors would be of use in x-ray microscopy,^2,3 lithography,^4,5 and astronomy.⁶ Be is also potentially useful in infrared (IR) optics because of its high IR reflectance and good thermal properties.⁷ In addition to these optical properties, the electrical and electronic properties of Be thin films could also be utilized in other areas, such as electromagnetic shielding in space applications,⁸ studies of superconductivity,^{9,10,11,12,13,14,15} and hot-electron transistor technology.¹⁶

© 1994 Optical Society of America