Polarizing mirrors for soft X-ray radiation

Periodic multilayer mirrors consisting of alternating layers of Fe/C, Ti/Ni or V/Ni have been produced at PSI by sputter deposition. The period has be en chosen such that the first Bragg peak appears at the Brewster angle (The ta approximate to 45 degrees) if the energy of the radiation is close to th e K edge of C or the L-3 edges of Ti or V, respectively. The reflectances R -s and R-p of these mirrors in s- and p-polarization geometry have been mea sured with linearly polarized undulator light at BESSY II using the BESSY p olarimeter. The maxima of R-s were 24% at 283 eV, 8% at 453 eV and 10% at 5 11 eV; the polarization efficiencies R-s/R-p showed maximum values > 2000 i n all three cases. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.