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Harmonic suppression gratings for soft X-ray monochromators.
Optics Letters
|March 13, 2026
Summary
This study introduces a novel method for harmonic suppression in soft X-ray monochromators using engineered diffraction patterns on gratings. This technique significantly reduces unwanted harmonic photon energies, improving experimental accuracy in X-ray beamlines.
Area of Science:
- Physics
- Optics
- Materials Science
Background:
- Synchrotron and free-electron laser sources produce X-ray beams with harmonic photon energies.
- Harmonic energies in soft X-ray beamlines (100 eV to 2 keV) can introduce unwanted light into experiments.
- Current harmonic suppression methods are often inefficient, reducing transmitted power.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop an efficient method for harmonic suppression in soft X-ray monochromators.
- To engineer reflection gratings that approximate a sinusoidal amplitude to suppress higher diffraction orders.
Main Methods:
- Designing gratings with pseudo-grayscale binary halftone patterns to approximate a sinusoidal amplitude.
- Fabricating prototype gratings using lithography.
- Testing gratings on a soft X-ray beamline at 110 eV and 330 eV.
Main Results:
- Demonstrated effective harmonic suppression using engineered gratings.
- Reduced third-harmonic intensity by a factor of 9.0 compared to square-wave gratings.
- Achieved a 38% reduction in first-order efficiency.
Conclusions:
- Engineered gratings with sinusoidal amplitude patterns offer an efficient solution for harmonic suppression.
- This approach improves the quality of soft X-ray beams by reducing unwanted harmonics.
- The method shows promise for enhancing experiments utilizing synchrotron and free-electron laser sources.
