Variable Free Spectral Range Spherical Mirror Fabry-Perot Interferometer

A spherical Fabry-Perot interferometer with adjustable mirror spacing is used to produce interference fringes with frequency separation (c/2L)/N, N=2-15. The conditions for observation of these fringes are derived from the consideration of the eigenmodes of the cavity with high transverse indices.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, accepted to Siberian Journal of Physic

Positioning errors of pencil-beam interferometers for long trace profilers

We analyze the random noise and the systematic errors of the positioning of the interference patterns in the long trace profilers (LTP). The analysis, based on linear regression methods, allows the estimation of the contributions to the positioning error of a number of effects, including non-uniformity of the detector photo-response and pixel pitch, read-out and dark signal noise, ADC resolution, as well as signal shot noise. The dependence of the contributions on pixel size and on total number of pixels involved in positioning is derived analytically. The analysis, when applied to the LTP II available at the ALS optical metrology laboratory, has shown that the main source for the random positioning error of the interference pattern is the read-out noise estimated to be {approx}0.2 rad. The photo-diode-array photo-response and pixel pitch non-uniformity determine the magnitude of the systematic positioning error and are found to be {approx}0.3 rad for each of the effects. Recommendations for an optimal fitting strategy, detector selection and calibration are provided. Following these recommendations will allow the reduction of the error of LTP interference pattern positioning to a level adequate for the slope measurement with 0.1-rad accuracy

Binary Pseudo-random Grating Standard for Calibration of Surface Profilometers

We suggest and describe the use of a binary pseudo-random (BPR) grating as a standard test surface for measurement of the modulation transfer function (MTF) of interferometric microscopes. Knowledge of the MTF of a microscope is absolutely necessary to convert the measured height distribution of a surface undergoing metrology into an accurate power spectral density (PSD) distribution. For an'ideal' microscope with an MTF function independent of spatial frequency out to the Nyquist frequency of the detector array with zero response at higher spatial frequencies, a BPR grating would produce a flat 1D PSD spectrum, independent of spatial frequency. For a'real' instrument, the MTF is found as the square root of the ratio of the PSD spectrum measured with the BPR grating to the'ideal,' spatial frequency independent, PSD spectrum. We present the results from a measurement of the MTF of MicromapTM-570 interferometric microscope demonstrating a high efficiency for the calibration method

Advanced X-ray Optics Metrology for Nanofocusing and Coherence Preservation

What is the point of developing new high-brightness light sources if beamline optics won't be available to realize the goals of nano-focusing and coherence preservation? That was one of the central questions raised during a workshop at the 2007 Advanced Light Source Users Meeting. Titled, 'Advanced X-Ray Optics Metrology for Nano-focusing and Coherence Preservation', the workshop was organized by Kenneth Goldberg and Valeriy Yashchuk (both of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, LBNL), and it brought together industry representatives and researchers from Japan, Europe, and the US to discuss the state of the art and to outline the optics requirements of new light sources. Many of the presentations are viewable on the workshop website http://goldberg.lbl.gov/MetrologyWorkshop07/. Many speakers shared the same view of one of the most significant challenges facing the development of new high-brightness third and fourth generation x-ray, soft x-ray, and EUV light sources: these sources place extremely high demands on the surface quality of beamline optics. In many cases, the 1-2-nm surface error specs that define the outer bounds of 'diffraction-limited' quality are beyond the reach of leading facilities and optics vendors. To focus light to 50-nm focal spots, or smaller, from reflective optics and to preserve the high coherent flux that new sources make possible, the optical surface quality and alignment tolerances must be measured in nano-meters and nano-radians. Without a significant, well-supported research effort, including the development of new metrology techniques for use both on and off the beamline, these goals will likely not be met. The scant attention this issue has garnered is evident in the stretched budgets and limited manpower currently dedicated to metrology. With many of the world's leading groups represented at the workshop, it became clear that Japan and Europe are several steps ahead of the US in this critical area. But the situation isn't all dire: several leading groups are blazing a trail forward, and the recognition of this issue is increasing. The workshop featured eleven invited talks whose presenters came from Japan, Europe, and the US

Nonlinear magneto-optic effects with ultranarrow widths

Abstract Several dispersion-like features in the magnetic field dependence of the nonlinear magneto-optic effect were observed in an experiment performed on rubidium atoms contained in a vapor cell with anti-relaxation coating. The narrowest feature has effective resonance width γ=gµ∆B z ≈1.3 Hz, where ∆B z ≈2.8 µGs is the peak-to-peak separation. The observed nontrivial dependence of the magneto-optic effect on transverse magnetic fields is discussed. The results of this work may be applied to low-field magnetometry, to parity where g is the Lande factor, µ is the Bohr magneton, and ∆B z is the peak-to-peak separation of the feature. This is approximately eight or nine orders of magnitude narrower than the effective widths of the linear resonant Faraday (Macaluso-Corbino

Energy Transfer in Polystyrene Nanoparticles with Encapsulated 2,5-Diphenyloxazole

As the first step to design nanosystems for X-ray excited sensitising of singlet oxygen, nanoparticles of polystyrene (PS NP) and polystyrene with encapsulated diphenyloxazole molecules (PS-PPO NP) were synthesized. Inside the PS-PPO NP, the electronic excitation energy transfer from polystyrene matrix to encapsulated PPO molecules takes place; efficiency of such transfer was roughly estimated to be about 0.37. X-ray stimulated luminescence of PS-PPO NP was registered

Performance of the upgraded LTP-II at the ALS Optical Metrology Laboratory

The next generation of synchrotrons and free electron laser facilities requires x-ray optical systems with extremely high performance, generally of diffraction limited quality. Fabrication and use of such optics requires adequate, highly accurate metrology and dedicated instrumentation. Previously, we suggested ways to improve the performance of the Long Trace Profiler (LTP), a slope measuring instrument widely used to characterize x-ray optics at long spatial wavelengths. The main way is use of a CCD detector and corresponding technique for calibration of photo-response non-uniformity [J. L. Kirschman, et al., Proceedings of SPIE 6704, 67040J (2007)]. The present work focuses on the performance and characteristics of the upgraded LTP-II at the ALS Optical Metrology Laboratory. This includes a review of the overall aspects of the design, control system, the movement and measurement regimes for the stage, and analysis of the performance by a slope measurement of a highly curved super-quality substrate with less than 0.3 microradian (rms)slope variation

Development of a new generation of optical slope measuring profiler

A collaboration, including all DOE synchrotron labs, industrial vendors of x-ray optics, and with active participation of the HBZ-BESSY-II optics group has been established to work together on a new slope measuring profiler -- the optical slope measuring system (OSMS). The slope measurement accuracy of the instrument is expected to be<50 nrad for the current and future metrology of x-ray optics for the next generation of light sources. The goals were to solidify a design that meets the needs of mirror specifications and also be affordable; and to create a common specification for fabrication of a multi-functional translation/scanning (MFTS) system for the OSMS. This was accomplished by two collaborative meetings at the ALS (March 26, 2010) and at the APS (May 6, 2010)

Progress of Multi-Beam Long Trace-Profiler Development

The multi-beam long trace profiler (LTP) under development at NASA s Marshall Space Flight Center[1] is designed to increase the efficiency of metrology of replicated X-ray optics. The traditional LTP operates on a single laser beam that scans along the test surface to detect the slope errors. While capable of exceptional surface slope accuracy, the LTP single beam scanning has slow measuring speed. As metrology constitutes a significant fraction of the time spent in optics production, an increase in the efficiency of metrology helps in decreasing the cost of fabrication of the x-ray optics and in improving their quality. Metrology efficiency can be increased by replacing the single laser beam with multiple beams that can scan a section of the test surface at a single instance. The increase in speed with such a system would be almost proportional to the number of laser beams. A collaborative feasibility study has been made and specifications were fixed for a multi-beam long trace profiler. The progress made in the development of this metrology system is presented