Design and experimental evaluation of enhanced diffraction efficiency of lanthanum-based material coated laminar-type gratings in the boron K-emission region

Numerical and experimental studies have been performed to evaluate the enhancement of diffraction efficiency of diffraction gratings around B K-emission by overcoating lanthanum series layers on conventional metal-coated laminar-type gratings. We propose an optical design method based on the concept of spectral flux given by collection efficiency and diffraction efficiency. A diffraction grating with a small angle of incidence provides an advantage to soft x-ray spectrographs because it collects the emission at a larger solid angle compared to that of conventional grazing incidence diffraction gratings. Numerical calculations indicated that La and LaF₃ were promising as overcoating materials on a laminar-type Ni-coated diffraction grating, and we performed an experimental study using LaF₃ and La/C overcoatings, considering their producibility and durability. The diffraction efficiencies were measured using a reflectometer at a synchrotron facility. The diffraction efficiencies observed at 183.4 eV were 29.4% and 34.3% at angles of incidence of 85.1^◦ and 84.9^◦ for Ni/LaF₃ and Ni/La/C gratings, respectively.