Attosecond multilayer X-ray optics

The development of multilayer optics for steering, spectral filtering and dispersion control of sub-femtosecond soft X-ray pulses are based on broad-bandwidth a-periodic multilayer systems of binary or ternary stacks of nanolayers of various materials, with layer thickness ranging from 1 to 10 nm and layer numbers ranging from ~10 to ~1000.

Our research goal is to control the temporal and spectral properties of the pulses in the soft X-ray range upon reflection from these multilayer optics with very high precision in wavelength and spectral phase as well as high efficiency.

Our scientific tools range from X-ray optical simulation algorithms with evolutionary optimization over advanced Dual Ion Beam Deposition (Veeco IBDO) with insitu monitoring in a class 1000 clean room environment to post-deposition characterization techniques like Hard X-ray reflectometry, soft X-ray reflectometry and attosecond electron streaking for pulse characterization.

Dual Ion Beam Deposition system with insitu ellipsometry for soft X-ray multilayer
deposition to implement sophisticated tailor-made mirrors (e.g. double mirrors)