Structure and normal incidence soft-x-ray reflectivity of Ni-Nb/C amorphous multilayers

Multilayers for the water window region of the soft x rays have been prepared by pulsed laser ablation with amorphous Ni(50) Nb(50) and amorphous C. The structural characterization of the multilayers, period d = 2.41 nm, shows that the interfaces are sharp with a roughness of only 0.4 nm that is chemical, not morphological, in origin. The interface roughness was found to be uncorrelated in the direction normal to the plane of the film. The normal incidence soft-x-ray reflectivity of the multilayer at 4.85-nm wavelength is 0.06%, 1 order of magnitude lower than the theoretically predicted value. However, the resolution limit lambda/Dlambda of the multilayer was found to be 16.7, close to the theoretically predicted value.