L. Nahon et al., Very high spectral resolution obtained with SU5: A vacuum ultraviolet undulator-based beamline at Super-ACO, REV SCI INS, 72(2), 2001, pp. 1320-1329
In this article we wish to report on the commissioning of the SU5 undulator
-based beamline, whose primary scientific goal deals with high-resolution s
pectroscopy and photon-induced dynamics in the vacuum ultraviolet range on
dilute species. In order to achieve such a scientific program, we have conc
eived an original optical design, centered around a 6.65 m off-plane Eagle
monochromator equipped with two gratings (2400 and 4300 l/mm) illuminated b
y an astigmatic prefocusing optical system. The different components of the
actual beamline, such as the optical elements, their holders/manipulators
and the monochromator are described, with a special emphasis on critical as
pects such as the mechanical resolution and stability, the vibrations limit
ations, and the thermal stability. Then, a spectral calibration procedure o
f the monochromator is described, followed by the presentation of the measu
red performances of the beamline in terms of ultimate resolution and flux.
Owing to a gas phase ion yield experiment on rare gases, we have been able
to measure a raw linewidth of 184 mu eV at 21.61 eV (18s' line of Ne) corre
sponding to a resolving power of 117 000 and a raw (respectively, lifetime-
deconvoluted) linewidth of 119 mu eV (respectively, 76 mu eV) at 15.82 eV (
13s' line of Ar) corresponding to a raw resolving power of 133 000 (respect
ively, 208 000). The ultimate targeted 10(5) resolving power is therefore o
bserved on most of the VUV range, which corresponds to an unprecedented per
formance. The measured photon flux in a 1/50 000 bandwidth is in reasonable
agreement with the expected values lying in the 10(10)-10(9) photon/s rang
e over the VUV range. These very satisfactory performances, with a slit-lim
ited resolution down to about 15 mum slits aperture, are due to the special
care which has been paid at both the conception and construction stages co
ncerning critical issues such as the optical and mechanical design, the vib
rations, the driving/encoding system, and the slope errors of the gratings.
(C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.