title: Design of a normal incidence multilayer imaging x-ray microscope.
abstract: Normal incidence multilayer Cassegrain x-ray telescopes were flown on the Stanford/MSFC Rocket X-Ray Spectroheliograph. These instruments produced high spatial resolution images of the Sun and conclusively demonstrated that doubly reflecting multilayer x-ray optical systems are feasible. The images indicated that aplanatic imaging soft x-ray /EUV microscopes should be achievable using multilayer optics technology. We have designed a doubly reflecting normal incidence multilayer imaging x-ray microscope based on the Schwarzschild configuration. The Schwarzschild microscope utilizes two spherical mirrors with concentric radii of curvature which are chosen such that the third-order spherical aberration and coma are minimized. We discuss the design of the microscope and the results of the optical system ray trace analysis which indicates that diffraction-limited performance with 600 Å spatial resolution should be obtainable over a 1 mm field of view at a wavelength of 100 Å. Fabrication of several imaging soft x-ray microscopes based upon these designs, for use in conjunction with x-ray telescopes and laser fusion research, is now in progress. High resolution aplanatic imaging x-ray microscopes using normal incidence multilayer x-ray mirrors should have many important applications in advanced x-ray astronomical instrumentation, x-ray lithography, biological, biomedical, metallurgical, and laser fusion research.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama 35294.
authors.forename: D L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Shealy
authors.forename: D R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Gabardi
authors.forename: R B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Hoover
authors.forename: A B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Walker
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Lindblom
authors.forename: T W
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Barbee