Optical design of a spectrometer-monochromator for the extreme-ultraviolet and soft-x-ray emission of high-order harmonics

A grazing-incidence spectrometer-monochromator for diagnostics and application of the extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) and soft-x-ray high-order harmonics generated by the interaction between a few-optical-cycle laser pulse and a gas jet has been fabricated. We address the necessity of high-resolution spectral and spatial analyses of the high-order harmonics as well as their use as short EUV backlighters in pump-probe experiments. The spectrometer that we present uses a variable-line-spaced flat grating illuminated in the converging light coming from a toroidal mirror. The spectrum is stigmatic, and the focal surface is almost flat in a wide spectral region. The detector is a microchannel plate intensifier with a phosphor screen optically coupled to a CCD camera; it can be moved by means of a linear drive to acquire different portions of the spectrum in the 5-75-nm region. The resolution is almost limited by the pixel size of the detector. We apply the same optical scheme to achieve a constant-deviation-angle monochromator by substituting an exit slit for the detector block: The rotation of the grating gives the spectral scanning. A monochromator for the 5-50 nm spectral region is achieved.