At-wavelength figure metrology of total reflection mirrors in hard x-ray region

Abstract

We realized nearly diffraction-limited performance with a FWHM focal spot size of 25 nm at an x-ray energy of 15 keV at SPring-8. We explain performances of fabricated x-ray mirror, its fabrication technologies and future plan for realizing sub-10-nm focusing. We developed a novel method of at-wavelength metrology for evaluating the focusing hard x-ray beam in a grazing-incidence optical system. The metrology is based on the numerical retrieval method using the intensity distribution profile around the focal point. We demonstrated the at-wavelength metrology and estimated the surface figure error on a test mirror. An experiment for measuring the focusing intensity profile was performed at the 1-km-long beamline (BL29XUL) of SPring-8. The obtained results were compared with the profile measured by the optical interferometer and confirmed to be in good agreement with it. This technique has potential for characterizing wave-front aberration on elliptical mirrors for the sub-10-nm focusing.