Experimental comparison of extreme-ultraviolet multilayers for solar physics.

We compare the reflectance and stability of multilayers comprising either Si/Mo, Si/Mo2C, Si/B4C, Si/C, or Si/SiC bilayers, designed for use as extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) reflective coatings. The films were deposited by using magnetron sputtering and characterized by both x-ray and EUV reflectometry. We find that the new Si/SiC multilayer offers the greatest spectral selectivity at the longer wavelengths, as well as the greatest thermal stability. We also describe the optimization of multilayers designed for the Solar-B EIS instrument. Finally, we compare experimental reflectance data with calculations and conclude that currently available optical constants cannot be used to adequately model the performance of many of these multilayers.