Method to overlay an interference field over a grating using only the grating's profile symmetry.

We theoretically present and experimentally validate a method to overlay the interference field (for making straight-line holographic gratings) with a real grating and a derived method to measure the lateral shift between two real gratings. The methods rely only on the real gratings' profile symmetry, and they are robust against variations of the real gratings' profile parameters and functional form.

Optical anisotropy of self-organized gold quasi-blazed nanostructures based on a broad ion beam.

To circumvent elaborate conventional lithographic methods for realizing metallic nanostructures, it is necessary to develop self-organized nanofabrication methods for suitable template structures and their optical characterization. We demonstrate the potential of ion bombardment with impurity co-deposition to fabricate terraced or quasi-blazed nanostructure templates. Self-organized terraced nanostructures on fused silica were fabricated using ion bombardment with iron impurity co-deposition and subsequent Au shadow deposition.

Soft X-ray varied-line-spacing gratings fabricated by near-field holography using an electron beam lithography-written phase mask.

A fabrication method comprising near-field holography (NFH) with an electron beam lithography (EBL)-written phase mask was developed to fabricate soft X-ray varied-line-spacing gratings (VLSGs). An EBL-written phase mask with an area of 52 mm × 30 mm and a central line density greater than 3000 lines mm was used. The introduction of the EBL-written phase mask substantially simplified the NFH optics for pattern transfer.

Reducing Rowland ghosts in diffraction gratings by dynamic exposure near-field holography.

Near-field holography (NFH) combined with electron beam lithography (EBL)-written phase masks is a promising method for the rapid realization of diffraction gratings with high resolution and high accuracy in line density distribution. We demonstrate a dynamic exposure method in which the grating substrate is shifted during pattern transfer. This reduces the effects of stitching errors, resulting in the decreased intensity of the optical stray light (i.

[Development of Micro-Spectrometer with a Function of Timely Temperature Compensation].

Temperature drift will be brought to Micro-Spectrometer used for demodulating the Varied Line-Space(VLS) grating position sensor on aircraft due to high-low temperature shock. We successfully made a Micro-Spectrometer, for the VLS grating position sensor on aircraft, which still have stable output under temperature shock enviro nment. In order to present a real time temperature compensation scheme, the effects temperature change has on Micro-Spectrometer are analyzed and the traditional cross Czerny-Turner (C-T)optical structure is optimized.

Alignment method for fabricating a parallel flat-field grating used in soft x-ray region.

Parallel flat-field gratings consist of two flat-field gratings lying on one substrate, one for 5-20 nm and the other for 2-5 nm spectral regions, and thus can be widely used in various fields to record broader spectra in the soft x-ray region. The alignment of two subgratings directly determines the resolving power of parallel flat-field gratings. The theoretical resolving power is evaluated by means of the ray-tracing method and the maximal allowable alignment error is 0.

Design of multi-area grating for soft x-ray flat-field spectrograph.

A soft x-ray flat-field grating with a nominal groove density of 2400 grooves/mm is typically used in wavelengths of 1-6 nm or 1-7 nm for plasma diagnostics. However, measurement of wavelengths even down to 0.6 nm simultaneously is expected in practice.

The method for measuring the groove density of variable-line-space gratings with elimination of the eccentricity effect.

To eliminate the eccentricity effect, a new method for measuring the groove density of a variable-line-space grating was adapted. Based on grating equation, groove density is calculated by measuring the internal angles between zeroth-order and first-order diffracted light for two different wavelengths with the same angle of incidence. The measurement system mainly includes two laser sources, a phase plate, plane mirror, and charge coupled device.

Alignment method combining interference lithography with anisotropic wet etch technique for fabrication of high aspect ratio silicon gratings.

A method was developed for aligning interference fringes generated in interference lithography to the vertical {111} planes of <110> oriented silicon wafers. The alignment error is 0.036°.

Investigation on the properties of a laminar grating as a soft x-ray beam splitter.

Laminar-type gratings as soft x-ray beam splitters for interferometry are presented. Gold-coated grating beam splitters with 1000 lines/mm are designed for grazing incidence operation at 13.9 nm.