SINGLE CRYSTAL MOLYBDENUM MIRRORS FOR HIGH POWER VUV AND X-RAY RADIATION

THE ADVENT OF HIGH POWER EXCIMER LASERS AND SYNCHROTRON SOURCES OF INTENSE VACUUM ULTRAVIOLET (VUV) RADIATION HAS CREATED A NEED FOR EFFICIENT REFLECTIVE OPTICS CAPABLE OF SURVIVING THE VERY INTENSE RADIATION OF THESE SOURCES. SINGLE CRYSTAL MOLYBDENUM IS ONE OF THE MOST ATTRACTIVE CANDIDATES FOR VUV LASER MIRRORS AND X-RAY GRAZING INCIDENCEMIRRORS BECAUSE OF ITS HIGH MELTING POINT, GOOD THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY, LOW SCATTERING, HIGH REFLECTIVITY AND EXCELLENT SURFACE HARDNESS. THE PRINCIPAL REASON MOLYBDENUMMIRRORS HAVE NOT BEEN WIDELY USED IS BECAUSE SINGLE CRYSTALSOF ADEQUATE DIMENSIONS AND QUALITY HAVE NOT BEEN READILY AVAILABLE. A PROGRAM IS PROPOSED TO DEVELOP A PROCESS FOR PRODUCING HIGH QUALITY SINGLE CRYSTALS OF MOLYBDENUM OF LARGE DIMENSION AND A METHOD FOR MAKING VERY LOW SCATTER SUPERPOLISHED SURFACES FOR SUCH CRYSTALS. REPRESENTATIVE MOLYBDENUM MIRRORS WILL BE EVALUATED FOR CRYSTAL PERFECTION;SURFACE FLATNESS, ROUGHNESS AND TOTAL INTEGRATED SCATTER; REFLECTIVITY AS A FUNCTION OF WAVELENGTH FROM 5 EV TO 30 EV;AND LASER DAMAGE THRESHOLD AT 193 NM.