EXTREME-ULTRAVIOLET POLARIZING OPTICS USING BARE AND ALUMINUM-COATED SILICON-CARBIDE

A deformable three-reflection system that uses a bare silicon carbide substrate can function as an in-line, high-throughput (>30%), 90 degre es phase shifter in the 50-100 nn spectral range. For a given extreme ultraviolet wavelength, an aluminum thin film can be deposited on the silicon carbide substrate to suppress the parallel(p) or perpendicular (s) polarization on single reflection or to introduce quarter-wave ret ardation and equal reflectances for incident p- and s-polarized light.