The application of research results is usually a rewarding process for the respective researchers. Results which can be employed in practical applications are driving such research. Optics for space research, or ultrasensitive detection of materials by x-ray fluorescence, and photolithography all rely on special, multilayer optics.
The XUV group at MESA+ has a long standing tradition on the successful development of soft x-ray and extreme UV mirrors and recently has synthesized La/B-based multilayers showing the world record performance: 64% reflectivity of 6.7 nanometer light at 1.5° angle of incidence. This success gained much appreciation by industrial partners and the research community.
At the International Workshop on EUV and Soft X-ray sources, which took place at the University College Dublin, Ireland on 3-6 November 2014, Ph.D student from XUV group Dmitry Kuznetsov (presenting author) won the first place in the Best Poster Award. Kuznetsov belongs to the Industrial Focus Group led by professor Bijkerk at MESA+, a new initiative to speed up innovation and transfer know how to different industrial applications. The breaktrough in reflectivity shines a new light on the chances of even shorter wavelengths for the future fabrication of photo-lithography.
