The advent of new sources in the extreme ultraviolet and soft x-rays allows us to overcome the current limitations of science and technology in different fields of physics, materials science, semiconductor industry and biology. To manipulate the optical beams in an effective and efficient way, it is necessary to develop appropriate mirrors, which allow to control the efficiency, the phase shift and the wavefront shaping of the reflected beam generated, for example, in Laser Produced Plasma sources as well as in High Order Harmonics ones. In particular, the advent of Free Electron Lasers (FEL) emitting high energy density extreme ultraviolet (EUV) “laser-like” beams in short bursts of tens of femtoseconds requires specific compatible optics to properly transport, focus and re–shape the beam with spatial and temporal control. Multilayer (ML) coatings are pivotal elements for reflecting and manipulating EUV radiation at wavelengths shorter than 30 nm. Our research activity is dedicated to design ad-hoc periodic and aperiodic multilayer structures for reflection and phase manipulation of ultrafast EUV beam, to study their stability to high intense radiation and to develop phase characterization techniques.

Recent scientific results

A.J. Corso, P. Zuppella, E. Principi, E. Giangrisostomi, F. Bencivenga, A. Gessini, S. Zuccon, C. Masciovecchio, A. Giglia, S. Nannarone, M.G. Pelizzo, A broadband multilayer optics for ultrafast EUV absorption spectroscopy with Free Electron Laser radiation, Journal of Optics 17(2), 025505, (2015) 

A.J. Corso, P. Zuppella, E. Principi, E. Giangrisostomi, F. Bencivenga, A. Gessini, S. Zuccon, C. Masciovecchio, A. Giglia, S. Nannarone, M.G. Pelizzo, Broadband multilayer optics for ultrafast EUV absorption spectroscopy with free electron laser radiation, Highlights of Europhysics News 46(2), (2015)

A.J. Corso, P. Zuppella, S. Zuccon, M.G. Pelizzo, Phase characterization of multilayer coatings by photoemission measurements , IEEE Photonics Technology Letters 27(3), 241–244 (2015).

A.J. Corso, P. Zuppella, F. Barkusky, K. Mann, M. Muller, P. Nicolosi, M. Nardello and M.G. Pelizzo, Damage of multilayer optics with varying capping layers induced by focused extreme ultraviolet beam, Journal of Applied Physics 113(20), 203106 (2013).

A.J. Corso,  P. Zuppella, D.L. Windt, M. Zangrando, M.G. Pelizzo, Extreme ultraviolet multilayer for the FERMI@Elettra free electron laser beam transport system, Optics Express 20(7), 8006-8014 (2012).