Design of broadband and broad angular Cr/C multilayer reflector for “near water window” region

Traditional periodic multilayer reflector working in the soft X-ray region should be placed at the designed incidence angle and wavelength, which is extremely difficult and complicate in practice especially for “near water window region” (4.43–6.50 nm). In this region, Ni-like-Ta laser working at the wavelength 4.48 nm provides a possible source which has caught a lot attention. In this paper, to overcome the shortcoming of the periodic structure, top-flat broad band (normal incidence) and broad angular (around quasi-Brewster angle) Cr/C non-periodic multilayer reflector have been designed for the 4.48 nm soft X-ray optical system. In the wavelength region 4.473–4.488 nm, 4.455–4.496 nm and 4.435–4.529 nm, mean theoretical normal-incidence reflectivity can get 35.0%, 24.2% and 12.6%, respectively, by the top-flat broad band reflectors. In the grazing incidence angle region 44.85–45.16°, 44.54–45.46° and 44.02–45.98°, mean s-component theoretical reflectivity at 4.48 nm can get 39.7%, 23.1% and 13.0%, respectively, by the top-flat broad angular reflectors.