Carbon coatings for extreme-ultraviolet high-order laser harmonics

The experimental study of the optical properties of thin carbon films to be used as grazing-incidence coatings for extreme-ultraviolet high-order harmonics is presented. The carbon samples were deposited on plane glass substrates by the electron beam evaporation technique. The optical constants (real and imaginary parts of the refraction index) have been calculated through reflectivity measurements. The results are in good agreement with what reported in the literature, and confirm that carbon-coated optics operated at grazing incidence have a remarkable gain over conventional metallic coatings in the extreme ultraviolet. Since the harmonics co-propagate with the intense infrared laser generating beam, the carbon damage threshold when exposed to ultrashort infrared laser pulses has been measured.