Abstract

The wavelengths of soft x rays are approximately 500 times shorter than visible wavelengths. This implication is that smoothness and figure must be much better. In addition, for soft x rays, absorbance of all materials is high, and refraction is too small for successful fabrication of prisms and lenses. Nevertheless, a variety of multilayer diffractors (reflectors) and beam splitters have been fielded to supplement naturally occurring crystal diffractors. The specifications of such optical elements will be discussed for existing and projected applications involving soft x rays.

© 1990 Optical Society of America