First results on the reflectometry beamline on Indus-1

We report here the first reflectometry beamline in soft X-ray and vacuum ultra violet regime on the Indian synchrotron radiation source Indus-1 along with some commissioning results on this beamline. This reflectometry beamline is installed on one of the bending magnets of Indus-1, and has been in operation since November 2000. This beamline is being used for the characterization of optical elements (mirrors, gratings, thin films, multilayers, detectors, absorption edge filters, etc.) in the soft X-ray/vacuum ultra violet regimes in the wavelength range 40–1000 Å. Though it is designed primarily for precision reflectivity measurements on thin films and multilayer reflecting optics, the beamline is flexible to be used for a wide range of other experiments in this wavelength range. The beamline optics consists of a toroidal pre-mirror, a toroidal grating monochromator, a toroidal post-mirror for focusing the beam on the sample, and a high precision reflectometer. The beamline is capable of giving high flux at moderate energy resolution. The reflectometer has a capability of positioning the sample to within 10 microns and the angular position of the sample can be set within 0.01°. Results presented here demonstrate the performance and capabilities of this beamline.