ABSTRACT
A molybdenum/silicon multilayer coating was applied to a holographic ion-etched blazed grating substrate that had 2400 grooves/mm and a radius of curvature of 2.2 m. Scanning probe microscopy yielded the same surface microroughness (5 Å rms) before and after deposition of the multilayer. The efficiency and polarization performance of the grating was measured by synchrotron radiation in the 135-250-Å wavelength region. In the second grating order and the second Bragg order of the multilayer coating, the peak normal-incidence efficiency was 7.5% at a wavelength of 147 Å, representing a groove efficiency of 27%. At an angle of incidence of 35°, the polarization performance of the grating was 95%-100% in the 210-250-Å wavelength region. In a Seya-Namioka spectrometer mount at an angle of incidence of 30°-40°, the grating is a nearly perfect polarizing optical element in the wavelength bands between 125 and 300 Å, which are covered by the multilayer coating.