Optimization of extreme ultraviolet vortex beam based on high harmonic generation

In high harmonic generation(HHG),Laguerre–Gaussian(LG) beams are used to generate extreme ultraviolet(XUV)vortices with well-defined orbital angular momentum(OAM),which have potential applications in fields such as microscopy and spectroscopy.An experimental study on the HHG driven by vortex and Gaussian beams is conducted in this work.It is found that the intensity of vortex harmonics is positively correlated with the laser energy and gas pressure.The structure and intensity distribution of the vortex harmonics exhibit significant dependence on the relative position between the gas jet and the laser focus.The ring-like structures observed in the vortex harmonics,and the interference of quantum paths provide an explanation for the distinct structural characteristics.Moreover,by adjusting the relative position between the jet and laser focus,it is possible to discern the contributions from different quantum paths.The optimization of the HH vortex field is applicable to the XUV,which opens up a new way for exploiting the potential in optical spin or manipulating electrons by using the photon with tunable orbital angular momentum.

Enhanced Extreme Ultraviolet Free Induction Decay Emission Assisted by Attosecond Pulses

We demonstrate the extreme ultraviolet free induction decay emission that can be significantly enhanced by employing isolated attosecond pulses.The near infrared pulses are applied to excite the neon atoms into Rydberg states coherently,and isolated attosecond pulses are used to manipulate populations of the Rydberg states and the subsequent free induction decay process.The time resolved experimental measurement of dependence of the resonance emission yield would help to understand the buildup dynamics of population of excited states.The enhancement assisted by attosecond pulses can serve as a mechanism to develop high-flux extreme ultraviolet light sources.

A laser-produced plasma source based on thin-film Gd targets for next-generation extreme ultraviolet lithography

We have studied laser-produced plasma based on mass-limited thin-film Gd targets for beyond the current extreme ultraviolet(EUV)light source of 13.5 nm wavelength based on tin.The influences of the laser intensity on the emission spectra centered around 6.7 nm from thin-film Gd targets were first investigated.It is found that the conversion efficiency of the produced plasma is saturated when the laser intensity goes beyond 2×10^(11)W cm^(-2).We have systematically compared the emission spectra of the laser-produced plasma with the changes in the thicknesses of the thin-film Gd targets.It is proved that a minimum-mass target with a thickness of 400 nm is sufficient to provide the maximum conversion efficiency,which also implies that this thickness is the ablation depth for the targets.These findings should be helpful in the exploration of next-generation EUV sources,as the thin-film Gd targets will reduce the debris during the plasma generation process compared with the bulk targets.

Spectral Efficiency of Extreme Ultraviolet Emission from CO_2 Laser-Produced Tin Plasma Using a Grazing Incidence Flat-Field Spectrograph

A grazing incidence flat-field spectrograph using a concave grating was constructed to measure extreme ultraviolet （EUV） emission from a CO 2 laser-produced tin plasma throughout the wavelength region of 5 nm to 20 nm for lithography. Spectral efficiency of the EUV emission around 13.5 nm from plate, cavity, and thin foil tin targets was studied. By translating the focusing lens along the laser axis, the dependence of EUV spectra on the amount of defocus was investigated. The results showed that the spectral efficiency was higher for the cavity target in comparison to the plate or foil target, while it decreased with an increase in the defocus distance. The source＇s spectra and the EUV emission intensity normalized to the incident pulse energy at 45 from the target normal were characterized for the in-band （2% of bandwidth） region as a function of laser energy spanning from 46 mJ to 600 mJ for the pure tin plate target. The energy normalized EUV emission was found to increase with the increasing incident pulse energy. It reached the optimum value for the laser energy of around 343 mJ, after which it dropped rapidly.

Analysis of extreme ultraviolet spectral profiles of laser-produced Cr plasmas

Radiation from laser-produced plasmas was examined as a potential wavelength calibration source for spectrographs in the extreme ultraviolet(EUV) region.Specifically, the EUV emission of chromium(Cr) plasmas was acquired via spatiotemporally resolved emission spectroscopy.With the aid of Cowan and flexible atomic code(FAC) structure calculations,and a comparative analysis with the simulated spectra, emission peaks in the 6.5–15.0 nm range were identified as 3 p–4 d, 5 d and 3 p–4 s transition lines from Cr5+–Cr10+ions.A normalized Boltzmann distribution among the excited states and a steady-state collisional-radiative model were assumed for the spectral simulations, and used to estimate the electron temperature and density in the plasma.The results indicate that several relatively isolated emission lines of highly charged ions would be useful for EUV wavelength calibration.

Data processing and initial results from the CE-3 Extreme Ultraviolet Camera

The Extreme Ultraviolet Camera （EUVC） onboard the Chang＇e-3 （CE-3） lander is used to observe the structure and dynamics of Earth＇s plasmasphere from the Moon. By detecting the resonance line emission of helium ions （He＋） at 30.4 nm, the EUVC images the entire plasmasphere with a time resolution of 10 min and a spatial resolution of about 0.1 Earth radius （RE） in a single frame. We first present details about the data processing from EUVC and the data acquisition in the commissioning phase, and then report some initial results, which reflect the basic features of the plas- masphere well. The photon count and emission intensity of EUVC are consistent with previous observations and models, which indicate that the EUVC works normally and can provide high quality data for future studies.

Design of broad angular phase retarders for the complete polarization analysis of extreme ultraviolet radiation

A method of designing broad angular phase retarders in the extreme ultraviolet （EUV） region is presented. The design is based on a standard Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm combined with a common merit function. Using this method, a series of broad angular EUV phase retarders were designed using aperiodic Mo/Si multilayers. At photon energy of 90 eV, broad angular phase retarders with 30°, 60°, and 90° phase retardations have been realized in the angular range of 39°-51°. By analyzing and comparing the performances of the designed broad angular phase retarders, we found that the Mo/Si multilayer with more layers could obtain higher phase retardation in broader angular range when used to design the broad angular phase retarder. Broad angular phase retarders possess lower sensitivity toward changing incident angle compared with the traditional phase retarders designed with transmission periodic multilayers, and can be used for the polarization control of broad angular EUV sources.

Line identification of boron and nitrogen emissions in extreme-and vacuumultraviolet wavelength ranges in the impurity powder dropping experiments of the Large Helical Device and its application to spectroscopic diagnostics

An impurity powder dropper was installed in the 21 st campaign of the Large Helical Device experiment(Oct.2019–Feb.2020)under a collaboration between the National Institute for Fusion Science and the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory for the purposes of real-time wall conditioning and edge plasma control.In order to assess the effective injection of the impurity powders,spectroscopic diagnostics were applied to observe line emission from the injected impurity.Thus,extreme-ultraviolet(EUV)and vacuum-ultraviolet(VUV)emission spectra were analyzed to summarize observable impurity lines with B and BN powder injection.Emission lines released from B and N ions were identified in the EUV wavelength range of 5–300Ameasured using two grazing incidence flat-field EUV spectrometers and in the VUV wavelength range of 300–2400Ameasured using three normal incidence 20 cm VUV spectrometers.BI–BV and NIII–NVII emission lines were identified in the discharges with the B and BN powder injection,respectively.Useful B and N emission lines which have large intensities and are isolated from other lines were successfully identified as follows:BI(1825.89,1826.40)A(blended),BII 1362.46A,BIII(677.00,677.14,677.16)A(blended),BIV 60.31A,BV 48.59A,NIII(989.79,991.51,991.58)A(blended),NIV765.15A,NV(209.27,209.31)A(blended),NVI 1896.80A,and NVII 24.78A.Applications of the line identifications to the advanced spectroscopic diagnostics were demonstrated,such as the vertical profile measurements for the BV and NVII lines using a space-resolved EUV spectrometer and the ion temperature measurement for the BII line using a normal incidence 3 m VUV spectrometer.

Analysis of extreme ultraviolet spectra of laser-produced Cd plasmas

In order to provide detailed information about Cd structure and gain more insight regarding ionization degrees and types of transition,as well as the understanding of the temporal evolution behavior of laser produced Cd plasmas,extreme ultraviolet spectra of laser-produced cadmium(Cd)plasmas have been measured in the 8.4-12 nm region using spatiotemporally resolved laser-produced plasma spectroscopy technique.Spectral features were analyzed by the Hartree-Fock(HF)method with relativistic correlations(HFR)using the Cowan code.The results showed that the 4p-5s resonance transition arrays from Cd^9+to Cd^13+merged to form intense lines in this spectral region.A number of new spectral features from Cd^9+and Cd^10+ions are reported in this study.Based on the assumption of a normalized Boltzmann distribution among the excited states associated with a steady-state collisional-radiative model,the plasma parameters were obtained by comparing the experimental and simulated spectra.As a result,we succeeded in reproducing the synthetic spectra for different time delays,which yielded good agreement with the experiments.The temporal evolution behaviors of electron temperature and electron density of plasma were also analyzed.

Micro-pinch formation and extreme ultraviolet emission of laser-induced discharge plasma

Extreme ultraviolet(EUV)source produced by laser-induced discharge plasma(LDP)is a potential technical means in inspection and metrology.A pulsed Nd:YAG laser is focused on a tin plate to produce an initial plasma thereby triggering a discharge between high-voltage electrodes in a vacuum system.The process of micro-pinch formation during the current rising is recorded by a time-resolved intensified charge couple device camera.The evolution of electron temperature and density of LDP are obtained by optical emission spectrometry.An extreme ultraviolet spectrometer is built up to investigate the EUV spectrum of Sn LDP at 13.5 nm.The laser and discharge parameters such as laser energy,voltage,gap distance,and anode shape can influence the EUV emission.

Design optimization of broadband extreme ultraviolet polarizer in high-dimensional objective space

With the purpose of designing the extreme ultraviolet polarizer with many objectives,a combined application of multiobjective genetic algorithms is theoretically proposed.Owing to the multi-objective genetic algorithm,the relationships between different designing objectives of extreme ultraviolet polarizer have been obtained by analyzing the distribution of nondominated solutions in the four-dimensional objective space,and the optimized multilayer design can be obtained by guiding the searching in the desired region based on the multi-objective genetic algorithm with reference direction.Compared with the conventional method of multilayer design,our method has a higher probability of achieving the optimal multilayer design.Our work should be the first research in optimizing the optical multilayer designs in the high-dimensional objective space,and our results demonstrate a potential application of our method in the designs of optical thin films.

Direct Coulomb explosion of N2O2+induced by monochromatic extreme ultraviolet photons at 38.5 eV

The direct Coulomb explosion of N2O2+has been investigated experimentally after double-ionization by a single extreme ultraviolet(EUV)photon with an energy of ~38.5 eV.From the ion–ion time-of-flight coincidence spectrum,the de-nitrogenation(N2O2+→N++NO+)and de-oxygenation(N2O2+→O++N+2)photodissociation channels of N2O2+are unequivocally identified.The measured kinetic energy release(KER)distribution of the de-nitrogenation channel presents a major peak accompanied by a shoulder structure.We find that the major peak can be attributed to the direct photodissociation of the 11△and 1^1Σ+states,while the shoulder structure should be ascribed to the predissociation of the1^1△and 1^1Σ+states via 13Πstate.

Higher order harmonics suppression in extreme ultraviolet and soft x-ray

The extreme ultraviolet and soft x-ray sources are widely used in various domains. Suppressing higher order harmonics and improving spectral purity are significant. This paper describes a novel method of higher order harmonics suppression with single order diffraction gratings in extreme ultraviolet and soft x-ray. The principle of harmonic suppression with single order diffraction grating is described, and an extreme ultraviolet and soft x-ray non-harmonics grating monochromator is designed based on the single order diffraction grating. The performance is simulated by an optical design software. The emergent beams of a monochromator with different gratings are measured by a transmission grating spectrometer. The results show that the single order diffraction grating can suppress higher order harmonics effectively, and it is expected to be widely used in synchrotron radiation, diagnostics of laser induced plasma, and astrophysics.

Latest developments in EUV photoresist evaluation capability at Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility

Evaluating the comprehensive characteristics of extreme ultraviolet(EUV)photoresists is crucial for their application in EUV lithography,a key process in modern technology.This paper highlights the capabilities of the Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility(SSRF)08U1B beamline in advancing this field.Specifically,it demonstrates how this beamline can create fringe patterns with a 15-nm half-pitch on a resist using synchrotron-based EUV lithography.This achievement is vital for evaluating EUV photoresists at the advanced 5-nm node.We provide a detailed introduction to the methods and experimental setup used at the SSRF 08U1B beamline to assess an EUV photoresist.A significant part of this research involved the fabrication of high-resolution hydrogen silsesquioxane mask gratings.These gratings,with an aspect ratio of approximately 3,were created using electron beam lithography on an innovative mask framework.This framework was crucial in eliminating the impact of zeroth-order light on interference patterns.The proposed framework propose offers a new approach to mask fabrication,particularly beneficial for achromatic Talbot lithography and multicoherent-beam interference applications.

MAPDST单体在EUV光刻胶制备过程中的应用

极紫外(EUV)光刻胶的研发作为适配未来光刻技术的发展方向,现已成为超高精度集成电路制造的最高效工艺技术。其中,(4-(甲基丙烯酰氧基)苯基)二甲基锍三氟甲磺酸盐(MAPDST)作为一种含辐射敏感锍基功能的关键单体,现已广泛应用于极紫外(EUV)光刻胶的研发生产过程中。首先,简要阐述在制约光刻胶性能提升过程中存在的分辨率(R)、线边缘粗糙度(LER)、曝光灵敏度(S)之间的平衡制约关系,即RLS平衡制约关系;随后,对MAPDST单体的优越性能以及在推动光刻胶朝着高分辨率方向发展的应用现状进行综述;最后,对EUV光刻胶材料及MAPDST单体的未来发展做出展望。

亚角秒空间分辨的太阳极紫外宽波段成像光谱仪光学设计

狭缝式成像光谱仪是太阳极紫外光谱成像探测的重要工具之一,然而目前国内尚无该类载荷,导致太阳物理学和空间天气学等学科在极紫外光谱诊断研究方面主要依赖国外仪器数据,严重制约了相关学科的发展.国外已发射的成像光谱仪仅具有2"量级的空间分辨率,很难观测到日冕加热模型预测的等离子体核心特征.为了更好地理解太阳不同层次大气之间的耦合过程,需要更宽光谱覆盖的太阳观测数据.鉴于此,本文提出并设计了一款亚角秒空间分辨的太阳极紫外宽波段成像光谱仪,相比现有仪器,系统能够实现更高空间和光谱分辨率、更宽光谱范围覆盖的观测.性能评价结果表明,系统在62—80 nm,92—110 nm波段内的像元空间分辨率均优于0.4",光谱分辨率均优于0.007 nm,光谱成像质量接近衍射极限,对我国未来首台空间太阳极紫外成像光谱仪的研制具有重要参考价值.

极紫外光源及高荷态离子诱导下甲烷的脱氢通道碎裂机制

CH_(4)广泛存在于行星大气之中,研究CH_(4)的解离动力学对了解宇宙中气体演化的过程具有重要的价值.目前,CH_(4)^(2+)→CH_(3)^(+)+H^(+)碎裂通道已被大量研究,但针对该通道的解离机制的解释尚存在一定争议.本实验利用高分辨反应显微成像谱仪,开展了25—44 eV的极紫外(extreme ultraviolet,XUV)光电离实验及1 MeV Ne^(8+)与CH_(4)的碰撞实验.通过符合测量得到了CH_(3)^(+)和H^(+)两种离子的动能,重构了两体解离的动能释放(kinetic energy release,KER),并研究了CH_(4)^(2+)解离产生CH_(3)^(+)+H^(+)解离路径下的碎裂动力学过程.在光电离实验中,观测到KER谱上存在4.75 eV和6.09 eV两个峰,结合前人的工作及XUV的能量范围,对每个峰的机制归属进行讨论.特别是4.75 eV峰,分析认为可能来自于CH_(4)^(2+)直接解离机制的贡献.另外,在1 MeV Ne^(8+)离子碰撞实验中,可观测到3个KER峰,将每个峰的分支比与以往的实验结果进行对比,未发现速度效应对KER谱的显著影响.

40~90 nm波段极紫外多层膜研究进展

极紫外多层膜反射镜在许多科学与技术领域,如极紫外光刻、天体物理学、等离子体诊断、阿秒物理和自由电子激光等方面有重要应用。多层膜使极紫外波段反射镜在正入射条件下具有高反射率和窄带宽成为可能。多层膜反射镜是极紫外成像和光谱应用的重要器件,多层膜构成的极紫外成像系统已成功完成多个太阳单一谱线的成像观测。本文综述了40~90 nm波段最有前景的多层膜的研究进展。首先简要介绍了多层膜的基本原理,叙述了40~90 nm波段材料光学常数的测量,总结了Mg基、Sc基和镧系材料以及其他材料组成多层膜的进展,给出了目前达到的最佳反射率和带宽,阐明了多层膜的时间稳定性,从而为40~90 nm波段多层膜制备提供了技术指导。

EUV成像仪极间串扰和伪信号触发计数修正

为了提高极紫外(EUV)光子计数成像仪的分辨率,分析了EUV成像仪系统WSZ阳极(Wedge Strip Zigzag anode)不同条带间的极间串扰以及非目标能量区间内信号触发产生的伪信号对图像质量的影响。讨论了串扰产生的原因,通过测量极间电容,找到了串扰系数所在的范围,并最终确定最优值;使用该系数对不同能量范围内的光子进行处理,确定了合适的能量区间(上下限)。在设定的能量区间重新成像并与原图像进行对比,结果显示图像质量有了明显提高。通过消除极间串扰和剔除混杂在图像数据中的伪数据,使图像的边缘特性更强,提高了图像分辨率。

“LPP-EUV”光源中的高功率CO_2激光监测与控制系统

为了满足激光诱导等离子体(LPP)体制下极紫外(EUV)光源对CO2激光器提出的稳定性需求,建立了简化的CO2激光传输系统模型,根据光束稳定性需求对光束功率、指向和位置的监测与控制方法进行了理论和实验研究。根据高功率CO2激光传输系统特点,在实验室内建立了上述光束监测和控制实验系统,包括光束功率控制模块、光束指向控制模块和光束参数监测模块,其中光束参数监测模块可实时测量光束功率、指向、尺寸及发散角等重要参数。仿真与实验结果表明:光束功率控制模块对线偏振激光功率的控制接近1%～100%,光束指向控制模块实现的光束指向稳定度在10μrad以内,可满足CO2激光驱动源的高稳定性要求。