ARTICLE IN PRESS

Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A 601 (2009) 213219

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Nuclear Instruments and Methods in

Physics Research A
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/nima

Novel instruments for ultra-soft X-ray emission spectroscopy

M. Agaker, J. Andersson, C.-J. Englund, A. Olsson, M. Strom, J. Nordgren 
Department of Physics and Materials Science, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden

a r t i c l e in fo abstract

Available online 19 January 2009 Two alternative instrument designs to the traditional Rowland grating spectrometer for high resolution
Keywords: ultra-soft X-ray spectroscopy are presented. The rst instrument is a plane grating spectrometer using
Soft X-ray off-axis parabolic mirrors for collection and refocusing, and with a spatially resolving multichannel
Spectrometer detector with delay line read-out. The instrument offers substantially higher performance in terms of
Interferometer resolution and sensitivity than traditional instruments. The second instrument is a Fourier transform
RIXS spectrometer based on a grazing incidence MachZehnder interferometer using wavefront dividing
X-ray spectroscopy beamsplitters. The path length difference can be scanned over 0.1 mm, which corresponds to a
Fourier transform spectrometer resolution of 12 meV.
& 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction X-ray emission probes local electronic structure due to the

X-ray spectroscopy was a key experimental technique to
elucidate the electronic structure of atoms, molecules and solids
during the 20th century. Henry Moseleys discovery in 1913 of the
relation between the wavelength of characteristic X-rays and the
atomic number formed the basis for a consistent and quantitative
structure of the periodic table, and to the discovery of new
elements. X-ray spectroscopy was subsequently much rened and
applied in studies of matter by Manne Siegbahn, which had great
impact in electronic structure research [1]. It triggered a period of
successful study of atomic structure based on X-ray spectroscopy,
a period which is still ongoing using continuously rened
techniques. Soft X-ray spectroscopy, a subeld of X-ray spectro-
scopy requiring different techniques, was also pioneered by
Manne Siegbahn. Soft X-ray spectroscopy played an important
role in the early studies of the electronic structure of solids, and it
has recently been subject to great advances owing to the
introduction of synchrotron radiation sources.
With continuously tunable synchrotron radiation at hand, soft
X-ray absorption spectroscopy became a powerful and readily
available tool, in particular after the recognition of the feasibility
of electron yield detection of X-ray absorption [2]. Somewhat
later, when the brilliance of synchrotron radiation had further
increased by the use of insertion devices, soft X-ray emission
could also successfully benet from this source of excitation. The
use of tunable excitation allowed site selective studies of multi-
element systems, and in particular, it made resonant inelastic soft
X-ray scattering spectroscopy (RIXS) feasible. For reviews of
advances in soft X-ray uorescence spectroscopy, see e.g. [3,4].
 Corresponding author.
E-mail address: Joseph.Nordgren@fysik.uu.se (J. Nordgren).
involvement of core electrons. For valence-core transitions (Kb, Lb,
etc.) this means that the valence band at a particular atomic
species is probed. Furthermore, the transitions are governed by
electric dipole selection rules that impose restrictions on the
states involved. This provides selectivity with respect to orbital
symmetry. For molecules, it can be used to describe molecular
orbitals in terms of atomic composition (LCAO, linear combina-
tions of molecular orbitals), and for solids, partial densities of
states can be used to describe the electronic structure of the
bands. In either picture, soft X-ray emission offers a means to
determine the weight of the respective components.
In addition to the local character and symmetry-probing
capability of X-ray emission the use of tunable synchrotron
radiation provides a further means of obtaining detailed informa-
tion about electronic structure and excitation dynamics. The
tunability of synchrotron radiation allows excitation at specic
chemical sites of a compound, since core electron excitation
energies differ between atoms in different chemical environ-
ments. Resonant X-ray emission (or uorescence) is the common
term for X-ray emission that is excited by monochromatized
photons at specic resonances. The process is often seen as a two-
step process where the rst step is the X-ray absorption and the
second step is the emission. The absorption step offers selectivity
with respect to, for example, chemical site, and the emission
probes the local electronic structure at the particular site. Usually
emission spectra are recorded at a number of different excitation
energies and plotted together with an X-ray absorption spectrum
in which the energy positions of the various excitations have been
indicated. In many cases resonant X-ray emission cannot be
treated in terms of two consecutive, disconnected steps: excita-
tion and de-excitation. Instead, one has to regard the entire
process as one scattering process where the excitation and
emission steps are interlinked. This is because the cross-section

0168-9002/$ - see front matter & 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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214 M. Agaker et al. / Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A 601 (2009) 213219
for inelastic scattering can become very large at resonances, and
this has a number of important consequences. Resonant X-ray
emission is therefore often termed RIXS when the inelastic
scattering process becomes signicant. The characteristic of RIXS
is that it disperses with excitation energy, while the X-ray
uorescence does not. Detuning from resonant excitation of
X-ray emission provides a means to obtain timing information
in the sub-femtosecond range in an indirect way, since the
detuning leads to an effective shortening of the X-ray scattering
timescale. Finally, the polarization control of synchrotron radia-
tion can be used to obtain information on local order and
orientation as well as magnetic state contrast in X-ray spectra.
Applications of soft X-ray uorescence spectroscopy are found
in many areas of solid state physics and materials science. The
comparatively large penetration depth compared to electrons
makes soft X-ray emission or RIXS a bulk sensitive probe. Probe
depths of over 100 nm are possible, which makes the method
ideally suited for studies of buried layers, sampling behind
windows or capping layers, as well as at ambient conditions.
Also, it does not require UHV or the careful surface control
associated with surface sensitive techniques. Many synchrotron
radiation laboratories in the world provide soft X-ray uorescence
beamlines. The use of RIXS to study low energy excitations in
strongly correlated materials, compounds of transition metals and
rare earths, has become widespread. The feasibility of investigat-
ing buried structures owing to the nite penetration of soft X-rays
makes it a powerful tool for various in situ studies of processes
where the sample needs to be at ambient conditions, separated
from the vacuum system by a thin membrane. For instance,
molecular properties of liquids and in situ studies of chemical
reactions are examples where the direct probing of the valence
band as offered by soft X-ray emission allows interesting studies
to be made. Furthermore, the insensitivity to electromagnetic
elds adds to the ambient conditions capability.
Up to recently soft X-ray emission spectroscopy with synchro-
tron radiation has mainly been pursued using spherical grating
Rowland type spectrometers. In the Rowland set-up [5,6] the
source, a spherical grating and a detector are placed on a circle
with half the radius of the grating, and the emitted soft X-rays are
diffracted and focused by the grating on to the detector. The
imaging properties associated with grazing incidence operation of
spherical gratings impose certain limitations with respect to
instrument sensitivity. Since there is very little focusing in the
sagittal plane at grazing angles there is an inverse dependence of
sensitivity on the sourcedetector distance. Thus, maximum
sensitivity is achieved for minimum sourcedetector distance.
This is in contrast to the situation for the resolution, which scales
with the size of the instrument. Therefore, in order to improve the
performance (both sensitivity and resolution) one can choose one
of the following options: (a) scale up the instrument, including the
size of its optics and detector; (b) decrease the source size and use
matching detector spatial resolution; (c) nd an alternative
optical solution.
Although several new instruments for soft X-ray emission have
been taken into operation in recent years [710], the acceptance
angle limitation of spherical optics at grazing incidence has
not been extensively addressed. Improved resolution has been
achieved by a combination of up-scaling and increasing grating
groove density, but at the expense of sensitivity. This has
nevertheless led to new and improved data owing to improved
beamline performance, and to the improved detection sensitivity
offered by using CCD detectors at normal incidence, which
becomes possible by variable line spacing (VLS) grating diffrac-
tion.
In the present paper we discuss two different non-
conventional designs of instruments for ultra-soft X-ray emission
spectroscopy (below 200 eV), which provide substantially
enhanced performance compared to the current ones. In the rst
part a plane grating spectrometer (PGS) using parabolic off-axis
mirrors for collimation and refocusing is presented. It offers more
than an order of magnitude higher sensitivity than the previous
Rowland instruments, while at the same time offering substan-
tially improved resolution. In the second part, we present the
design of an interferometer for ultra-soft X-rays to be used as a
Fourier transform spectrometer. The goal of the latter project is to
achieve resolution at the meV or even sub-meV level in emission
spectra.
2. Plane grating spectrometer
The PGS is composed of three optical elements, two parabolic
mirrors and a plane grating, see Fig. 1. The rst parabolic mirror is
a rotational paraboloid that collects and collimates the emission
from the source and delivers a parallel beam of soft X-rays to the
plane grating. The collimated beam enables the use of a large
grating with the same incidence angle over the entire surface. The
diffracted beam is focused by the second parabolic mirror, in this
case a cylindrical paraboloid, onto a spatially resolving detector.
The instrument has no entrance slit to dene the source; instead
the sample spot is used directly relying on the micro-focusing
capability of the beamline used. The plane grating is mounted on a
rotation stage enabling continuous variation of the angle of
incidence. The second parabolic mirror is mounted on a swing
arm that can be rotated to focus the diffracted X-rays at the
corresponding angle for the photon energy studied. The emitted
spectral intensity is recorded on a spatially resolving, multi-
channel plate (MCP) detector mounted on the swing arm at the
focal plane of the refocusing mirror. The detector uses delayline
read-out for spatial detection. The delayline technique provides
inherent timing that can be used to reduce background noise by
means of synchronization with the bunch structure in the storage
ring.
The instrument design offers the ability to choose the angle of
incidence and angle of diffraction, respectively, in a way that
allows performance optimization. First, one can choose the angle
of incidence in a way that takes advantage of the grating blaze
over a large spectral range. Grating blaze is important for the
Fig. 1. CAD drawing of the PGS with a cut-out for clarity. Light enters the
spectrometer from the left and is collimated by the rst parabolic mirror, mounted
in a yoke. The parallel beam from the rst mirror is then diffracted at the grating,
which is mounted in a rotatable cradle in the yoke. The diffracted light is focused
by a cylindrical parabolic mirror onto an imaging detector. The mirror/detector
assembly is mounted in a swing arm that can be rotated around the same axis as
the grating.
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M. Agaker et al. / Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A 601 (2009) 213219 215

diffraction efciency and typically several gratings are required to rotation stage with the rotational axis in the mid face of the
cover a broad wavelength range. By choosing the angle of grating perpendicular to incoming light. In this way the incidence
incidence in a way that satises the grating equation as well as angle to the grating can be chosen in accordance with the X-ray
the blaze condition, maximum efciency can be maintained over a energy and the desired mode of operation and resolution
broad wavelength range. It also enables the instrument to operate requirements. The incidence angle can be varied between 21 and
in both positive and negative order of diffraction, which offers 121. The gratings have a ruled area of 270  50 mm2.
another element of exibility and optimization strength.
The grating formula reads
2.3. Detector
ml dsin u  sin u0
where m is the order of diffraction, l is the wavelength, d is the The detector is a spatially resolving MCP based delayline
distance between grooves, u is the angle of incidence relative to detector by Surface Concept [11]. The front plate is efciency
the grating normal and u0 is the diffraction angle relative to the enhanced for UV and X-rays by coating with a high photoyield
grating normal. Derivation of this formula yields the angular material, CsI. The detector has an active area of 81  54 mm2. The
dispersion of the grating. delayline electronic system produces an image size of
3600  2400 pixels giving a spatial resolution of 22.5 mm. The
qu m digital time bin for individual events is 60 ps and the total
 .
ql d cos u0 measurement range is 5 ns3.9 ms. The timing electronics can be
Operating in positive order (m40) means that u0 is smaller than coupled to an external low noise VLTTL or TTL frequency source to
the angle of incidence u, hence lines are narrow with a physically be used as a signal for timestamps of detector events. The
small separation, which requires high spatial resolution of the collected data can then be discriminated to remove background if
detector. In negative order (mo0) u0 is larger than u, which gives the source has a time structure with low duty cycle, such as a
broader lines and larger separations, making it easier to attain synchrotron radiation source.
high energy resolution with moderate detector resolution.
Negative order operation limits the lower end of the wavelength
2.4. Mechanics
range, since there is a so called horizon wavelength when the
angle of diffraction is 901. The maximum resolving power of a
grating instrument is equal to the number of grating grooves The spectrometer is built on a vertical support structure that
coherently illuminated times the order of diffraction. Since the carries a yoke on which the collection mirror and a pivoting
angle of incidence when operating in negative order has to be less grating cradle are mounted. Furthermore, the swing arm carrying
grazing the number of coherently illuminated grooves are limited the refocusing mirror and the detector is pivoting around the
compared to a more grazing incidence. This leads to a higher same rotational axis as that of the grating cradle. Rotation of the
maximum resolution when working in positive order, provided grating and the swing arm is done by means of sine bar
that the spatial resolution of the detector is not limiting. arrangements through two coaxial vacuum feedthrough rotating
platforms to couple from outside into the vacuum chamber. The
sine bars are rotated by translational stages driven by servo
2.1. Optics
motors [12] mounted outside vacuum, see Fig. 2, and the ne
adjustments required to position and align the detector are
The collection mirror is a rotational parabola manufactured in
accomplished using piezo inertial drives [13] mounted in vacuum.
fused silica by Zeiss. The mirror is coated with 40 nm gold. The
All rotational joints are supported by Bendix exure bearings. The
distance from the focal point (sample) to the center of the mirror
accuracy of positioning and aligning the detector is 1 mm,
is 450 mm and the incidence angle is 101 to the tangent of the
respectively, 2 mrad, and for the grating rotation the accuracy is
parabola at this point. The mirror is mounted in such a way that
the incoming light enters in a horizontal fan and is reected in a
201 downward angle. The total length of the mirror is 320 mm and
the width is 70 mm, with a clear aperture of 300  50 mm2, giving
it an acceptance angle of 5000 mrad2 at full illumination. Four
individually movable blades, two vertical and two horizontal, can
be used to limit the illumination of the mirror from 0 to 300 mm
along the beam and 0 to 50 mm perpendicular to the beam.
Surface roughness is o0.5 nm RMS and slope error is o1 arcsec
(tangential) and o5 arcsec (sagittal), respectively. The refocusing
mirror is a cylindrical paraboloid with otherwise the same
parameters as the collection mirror. A cylindrical parabola as the
refocusing mirror produces straight spectral lines on the detector
and facilitates line shape correction as well as keeping the local
charge depletion of the MCP at a minimum. The mirror is
mounted on a swing arm with its rotation axis identical to that
of the grating, see Fig. 1.

2.2. Grating
Two gratings are available for choice by alternative mounting
depending on experiment conditions. They are made by Jobin
Yvon in pyrex glass and coated with gold. Groove density is 1200
and 1800 l/mm, respectively. Micro roughness is o0.5 nm RMS
and slope error o1 arcsec RMS. The grating is mounted on a
Fig. 2. Photograph of the assembled PGS. The mechanical arms for rotation of the
grating, respectively, the focusing mirror/detector assembly are connected to the
server motors mounted vertically. Blade springs supporting the spectrometer can
be seen on the left while the back of the spectrometer is supported by gas springs.
This facilitates the oating of the spectrometer to allow the rotation and
translation adjustment of the spectrometer with respect to the source spot to be
made by the servo motors mounted on the top of the spectrometer.
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216 M. Agaker et al. / Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A 601 (2009) 213219
2 mrad. All movable parts of the spectrometer, except for the
manually operated illumination limiting blades, are computer
controlled.
The spectrometer is supported by a combination of leaf, coil
and gas springs mounted on a movable table, see Fig. 2. In this
way the spectrometer oats above the table, requiring a
minimum of force for ne positioning. The same kind of servo
motors and linear tables [14] used to position the optical elements
are used to position the entire spectrometer relative to the source,
i.e. to adjust the sample spot to be at the focus point of the
collection mirror. The arrangement provides a horizontal move-
ment of 75 mm and a rotation of the spectrometer in the vertical
plane. Together these two movements enable micrometer resolu-
tion adjustment of the position of the rst mirror focus point
relative to the sample spot within a 10 mm by 10 mm square.
The internal support structures are made out of precision
machined (6061) aluminum. After the rst machining the parts
where left for six months so that tension induced by processing
would be relaxed before nal machining. The optics are supported
by high quality steel balls (RB-6 RS) resting on precision machined
surfaces (1.6 N7) to give a positioning of 1 mm or better relative to
each other. The optical elements are held in place using spring
loaded steel balls. Standard vacuum components such as pumps,
rotation stages, bellows etc., were purchased off the shelf,
whereas all special components were designed and manufactured
in-house at the Angstrom Laboratory Workshop.
2.5. Ray trace simulation
Ray tracing of the instrument was initially done with the
Beam4 software during design. Later the system was also traced
using Zemax software to conrm the performance of the
instrument during test measurements and focusing.
Ray tracing predicts that operating the spectrometer in
negative order (normal mode of operation) with a source size of
5  50 mm2 gives a resolution of about 10 meV at 75 eV, see Fig. 3,
corresponding to a resolving power of 7500. When operated in
positive order the detector resolution becomes a limiting factor,
and detector techniques beyond the presently chosen one will be
required. With a sufciently highly resolving detector (o10 mm)
and the spectrometer operating in the rst positive order of
diffraction the resolution can be better than 5 meV at 75 eV
Fig. 3. Beam4 raytrace simulation of the detector image at 75 eV center energy for
a 5  50 mm2 source and a 1200 l/mm grating. The upper part shows three pairs of
lines separated by 10 meV recorded in negative order. The lower parts shows one
pair of lines separated by 10 meV recorded at 51 angle of incidence in positive order
using a 1200 l/mm grating.
corresponding to a resolution of 415 000, as shown in the lower
part of Fig. 3.
2.6. Preliminary results
Using a LEG62 microfocusing electron gun the spectrometer
set-up has been preliminarily tested at the Angstrom Laboratory
in Uppsala. The spectrometer was in this case stationary while the
experimental chamber was adjusted (using the spectrometer
positioning motors) to position the electron beam spot relative to
the collection mirror focus. Rough ne positioning of the detector
was made as well as initial focusing using the 0th order reection
from the grating. Several incidence angles at the grating were
used to conrm the positioning system of the swing arm and
grating. The process of focusing is an iterative process where the
spot and detector both has to be positioned at the collection and
refocusing mirror foci, respectively, to give maximal resolution.
Test spectra of the 0th order reection have been recorded as well
as the spectra of the aluminum L spectrum in both positive and
negative order, and work is in progress to condition the
instrument to optimize performance.
2.6.1. Summary PGS
Collimating mirror: rotational parabola, 101 grazing angle of incidence
Grating: 280 mm plane grating, 1200 or 1800 l/mm
Refocusing mirror: cylindrical parabola, 101 grazing angle of incidence
Slitless operation
Variable mirror illumination: 0300 mm
Adjustable optical axis: 75 mm vertically
Adjustable focal point: 75 mm horizontally
Acceptance angle: 5000 mrad2
Resolution: 10 meV at 75 eV in negative order @ 5  50 mm source size
3. Fourier transform spectrometer
3.1. Introduction
Fourier transform spectroscopy (FTS) is a well established tool
for spectroscopy in the infrared and visible ranges, and one has
been able to push down to the border of vacuum wavelengths, to
some 140 nm [15,16]. The increasingly difcult task to maintain
very high photon energy resolution of grating spectrometers
when going to shorter wavelengths is one reason to try to extend
the working range of FTS down into the VUV and soft X-ray range.
There is a profound difference between instruments for photon
spectrometry based on dispersive elements and on interfero-
metric operation, respectively. In the IR region the FTS technique
possesses special advantages with respect to throughput and
multiplexing, and in particular the phase space acceptance is
superior to grating spectrometers. For vacuum wavelengths this is
in principle also true, although for practical reasons it is rather the
potential for extremely high resolution that makes the technique
highly interesting for soft X-ray inelastic scattering spectroscopy.
The Fabry-Perot technique is not a realistic technique for soft
X-rays since it relies on multiple reections. Even with the best
multilayer mirrors the number of reections would be too small
to allow high resolution. Grazing incidence grating spectrometers
are the technique of choice today and the resolution here scales
with size, grating groove frequency and angle of incidence,
provided that the detector spatial resolution is not limiting. This
means that in order to achieve higher resolution one has to pay a
price in sensitivity, since optics size is limited and grating
efciency decreases with grating constant. This is a high price
to pay, since already the required excitation intensity needed
is sometimes causing radiation damage and makes recording
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
M. Agaker et al. / Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A 601 (2009) 213219
of spectra a complicated operation including precision sample
scanning, etc.
Interferometers for FTS are usually of Michelson type, in which
the path length difference x between the two interfering beams is
varied up to some maximum length L. The interference signal for a
given wave number s is proportional to 1+cos(2psx). Thus, if
the spectral distribution of the source is given by a function B(s),
the interference signals from all wave numbers present (the entire
R
spectrum) is superimposed to give B(s)(1+cos 2psx)qs. If the
interferometer is scanned with respect to path length difference x
the signal recorded by the detector is
Z 1
Ix Bscos 2psx fqs.
0
The constant signal B(s) has been subtracted and a phase angle f
introduced to allow free choice of scanning symmetrically or non-
symmetrically with respect to zero path length difference. Fourier
transformation on I(x) yields the spectral distribution.
The resolving power of the FTS instrument is given by the
number of waves scanned, i.e. Ls, in a similar way that the
maximum resolving power of a grating instrument is equal to
the number of grating grooves coherently illuminated times the
order of diffraction.
Let us consider a numerical example for VUV wavelengths, say
15 nm or about 75 eV photon energy, as in the above example for
the PGS. In order to achieve a resolving power of 15.000 at 15 nm
(5 meV resolution) we require the scanning range to be about
0.25 mm, since the resolving power equals the number of waves
scanned. It is reasonable to assume that at least an order of
magnitude larger scanning length than 0.25 mm can be realized
with maintained precision. This indicates that sub-meV resolution
could be attained in soft X-ray FTS spectrometry, provided that
mechanical stability and scanning precision are achievable and
that the required optical components are at hand.
3.2. Instrument
In the soft X-ray region the use of semi-transparent mirrors as
in an ordinary Michelson interferometer is very difcult due to the
strong absorption. Fabrication of such mirrors would be very
difcult since they would have to be extremely thin and at the
same time extremely at. To avoid this problem we use wavefront
dividing beam splitters, which are high quality mirrors with a
comb-like structure of slits running parallel to the light. In this
way part of the beam can go straight through the mirror, at
grazing angle as required by the short wavelength, and the other
half is reected off the mirror surface by the reecting bars
between the slits. If the coherence width of the light is larger than
the period of the slit structure of the beam splitter, beams that
have passed in different arms of the interferometer will interfere
after the beam mixer.
The present interferometer is of MachZehnder type, distorted
to 101 grazing angle of incidence, and consists of four optical
components: one beam splitter, one beam mixer, and two mirrors,
see Fig. 4. Scanning the path length difference in the two arms of
the interferometer is accomplished by rotating the rst beam
splitter/mirror pair around an axis in the beam splitter surface
perpendicular to the light path. Light hitting a pair of parallel
mirrors exits in the same direction as the incident beam, but the
beam is subject to a certain degree of shear due to the rotation of
the pair. Thus, the two optical trajectories traced through the
interferometer will not reunite at the same point on the beam
mixer. This can be compensated for by shifting the beam mixer to
accommodate for the sliding of the beam. In a rst approxima-
tion this compensation can be omitted if the coherence width of
the photon is larger than the sliding of the beam, as the
217
Fig. 4. Schematic of the interferometer. Light entering from the left is split in two
arms and recombines at the beam mixer. The resulting interferogram is recorded
by a CCD detector. The difference in path length travelled in the two arms can be
scanned from zero to 100 mm. The imaging capability of the CCD detector can be
used to limit loss of contrast due to imperfections of the optics.
coherence footprint will still provide overlap to allow the
beams to interfere with each other. In this case the second branch
has a constant optical path length as there are no moving parts.
The path length difference varies much slower with rotation of the
beam splitter/mirror assembly if the shear is not compensated for.
Therefore, it seems that the present scanning technique generally
requires shear compensation if one is striving for very high
resolution, i.e. when long scanning range is needed.
In the present prototype instrument, aiming at o15 meV
resolution, the rotation of the beam splitter/mirror assembly is
done using a piezoelectric tilt stage [17] with an angular range of
12 mrad and a resolution of 0.2 mrad. The angle of the tilt stage is
measured by monitoring the elevation of the end of the tilt stage
using an inductive probe [18] with a resolution of 250 nm. The
beam mixer is mounted on a three-axis piezo stage [19] providing
10 mm translation and two sub-microradian resolution tilts. This
enables alignment and compensation for beam shear. The set up
allows a maximum scanning length of 100 mm, corresponding to a
maximum resolution of about 12 meV.
The design of the interferometer allows all the optical
components to be individually pre-adjusted in all degrees of
freedom by micrometer screws. In this way it is in principle
possible to make a full alignment of the optical components. In
the practical case, however, the alignment of the optical elements
has been made using two lasers where the interference pattern far
from the interferometer was optimized.
The detector is a PI-SX back-thinned CCD detector for vacuum
wavelengths from Roper Inc/Princeton Instruments [20]. It has
13 mm pixel size and is provided with Peltier cooling for noise
reduction. The detector is mounted on a CF100 vacuum ange
with the CCD in vacuum and the electronics on the atmospheric
side.
3.3. Preliminary results
The interference pattern from the recombined beams was
measured with a spatially resolving detector. The interference
pattern was then summed over a part of the detector to form the
interferogram as a function of angular rotation (which was then
translated into the path length difference between the two optical
paths). A fast Fourier transform was then applied to the
interferogram to resolve the spectral content.
The interferometer, see Fig. 5, was tested with a HeNe laser, a
frequency doubled Argon laser (UV) and VUV He I and He II
radiation, see Figs. 6 and 7. He I and He II spectra have been
derivated to increase the contrast.
3.4. Improved optics
The present prototype instrument is provided with beam
splitters manufactured by InSync [21]. In order to obtain new
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218 M. Agaker et al. / Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A 601 (2009) 213219

beam splitters of larger size (25  30 mm2 clear aperture) for the
next generation prototype instrument, we have conducted a
development effort to produce such beam splitters in our
laboratory. The need for long and narrow bars together with the
very small tolerance for angular deections makes gravity one of
the major constraints on the designonly if the bars are
sufciently high they can be anticipated to be at enough.
Another difculty because of the geometric constraints is the
sensitivity to residual stress from machining. Etching therefore
has been used instead of mechanical techniques, since a process
that dissolves the material atom by atom in this regard is far
superior to methods relying on mechanical force. Because of the
signicant progress in micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS)
manufacturing recently, there are now several such methods
available to machine silicon depending on crystallography and
other conditions.
In order to achieve maximum contrast in the interference-
created intensity variations the optical elements must be of very
high quality. The surface roughness must be minimized to reduce
scattering, and the surface gure errors have to be very small in
order to avoid beams merging at the beam mixer to be misaligned.
The beam splitters/mixers are produced from mirror blanks
similar to the two mirrors of the MachZehnder set-up, the size
being 50  110  5 mm3. The width of the bars is determined by a
mask that only allows the etchant to access the unprotected
silicon. In this way deep cavities, eventually reaching through the
entire mirror, are formed. To decrease the thickness of the
material to be etched, a large part of the silicon is machined
away from the backside, not to damage the mirror surface.
Residual stress induced by this machining is removed by etching.
The effort has resulted in successful fabrication of beam
splitters with clear aperture size 25  30 mm2 and 200 mm period
(Fig. 8). The surface quality of the substrates, prior to micro-
structuring, was of the order of few microradians RMS, and it is

Fig. 7. FTS spectra of the He I and He II lines from a He discharge source. The
Fig. 5. Photograph of the interferometer set-up, excluding the CCD detector. spectra have been derivated in order to enhance the contrast.

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900

0
1.0

100
0.8

200 'Obtained spectra'

'Theoretical spectra'
Intensity (Arb.unit)

0.6
FWHM ~20 meV
300

0.4
400

0.2
500

600 0.0
1 2 3 4
Energy (eV)

Fig. 6. FTS spectrum of a HeNe laser source together with a theoretical spectrum.
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
M. Agaker et al. / Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A 601 (2009) 213219
Fig. 8. Beam splitter (here in the function of a beam mixer) allowing
simultaneously the depiction of two of the authorsone in front of the reective
surface of the beam splitter and one behind. In the insert an SEM picture of the
partially reective surface, showing the structure period of the bars, with a period
of about 200 mm.
shown that this quality is maintained in the structuring process.
To meet the ultimate demands of the present project the mirrors
and the beam-splitters have to have a surface roughness of less
than 0.5 nm RMS and a gure error of below 1 mrad RMS. New
substrates meeting these requirements have been obtained, and
the experience of the rst batch of beam splitters fabricated
219
suggests that these requirements will be met using the present
microstructuring process.
Acknowledgment
This work was supported by the K&A Wallenberg Foundation
and the Swedish Research Council.
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