The interest in the Extreme UltraViolet (EUV) radiation – matter interactions and the consequent technical goals posed by the downscaling of the features to nanometer scale drive a growing interest in the field of nanoscience and technology. The reflectance of single film coatings for radiation at wavelengths below 40 nm at normal incidence is negligible; high reflectance can be achieved at normal incidence only by the used of nanostructured coated optical elements. The realization of multilayer coatings to reflect, manipulate and spectrally tune the EUV radiation is therefore greatly required. They consist of periodic or aperiodic stacks of two or more material layers in the nanometric scale. High performances, specific properties, long term stability and resistance to high flux irradiation are pivotal, since the optical elements have to survive to extraordinary radiation pressure.  Fig.1 Transmission Electron Microscope Image of an Ir/Si multilayer optimized for 30.4 nm wavelength Multilayers coatings are widely used in different fields ranging from new generation sources applications as Free Electron Lasers to solar physics observations.  Activities at CNR-IFN include:
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