Fabrication of X-ray mirrors for synchrotron applications

Application of conic section geometries play an important role for soft X-ray synchrotron beams. Mirror design for collimation or focusing under stringent boundary conditions may end up with very aspheric geometries. In particular, the aspheric departure of these surfaces from “base geometries” in combination with high-quality requirements for slope and roughness is challenging. Mirror manufacturing of very aspheric mirrors at Carl Zeiss Laser Optics will be illustrated by recent examples. Fabrication issues of ellipsoids and 2D-parabolas are discussed. In addition, the close interaction of metrology and polishing will be highlighted.