Diffraction Efficiency Testing of Sinusoidal and Blazed Off-Plane Reflection Gratings

Abstract

Reflection gratings in the off-plane mount have the potential to enhance the performance of future high resolution soft X-ray spectrometers. Diffraction efficiency can be optimized through the use of blazed grating facets, achieving high-throughput on one side of zero-order. This paper presents the results from a comparison between a grating with a sinusoidally grooved profile and two gratings that have been blazed. The results show that the blaze does increase throughput to one side of zero-order; however, the total throughput of the sinusoidal gratings is greater than the blazed gratings, suggesting the method of manufacturing the blazed gratings does not produce precise facets. The blazed gratings were also tested in their Littrow and anti-Littrow configurations to quantify diffraction efficiency sensitivity to rotations about the grating normal. Only a small difference in the energy at which efficiency is maximized between the Littrow and anti-Littrow configurations is seen with a small shift in peak efficiency towards higher energies in the anti-Littrow case. This is due to a decrease in the effective blaze angle in the anti-Littrow mounting. This is supported by PCGrate-SX V6.1 modeling carried out for each blazed grating which predicts similar response trends in the Littrow and anti-Littrow orientations.