P. Zuppella

Long-term stability of Mg/SiC multilayers

Mg/SiC multilayers have been selected to coat the primary and secondary mirrors of the SCORE (Sounding-rocket CORonagraphic Experiment) telescope, a part of the NASA HERSCHEL program. Their experimental reflectance at the He II 30.4 nm wavelength is twice as much that of standard Mo/Si multilayer coatings, with a large improvement of the instrument effective area. Nevertheless, their long-term stability still needs to be evaluated in order to consider them as a valuable candidate for instrumentation of a long term space mission. A study is carried out on different Mg/SiC samples designed and fabricated varying the structural parameters and/or the capping layer material and thickness, which have been monitored for four years after deposition.

Plasmonic response of different metals for specific applications

Each metal presents different characteristics when used in a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) experiment. These include the shape of the SPR figure, the wavelength of better operation, the tendency to oxidize, the sensitivity to environmental changes, the range of refractive indices detectable and the capability of binding to specific targets or analytes. When choosing the metal for our SPR experiment all of these characteristics have to be taken into account. We investigate the behavior of metals, which are less or have never been used in this kind of application, comparing their characteristics to gold. We deeply investigate both theoretically and experimentally the behavior of palladium. This metal leads to an inverted curve with a maximum of reflected intensity instead of a minimum. In fact, in this case we speak of Inverted Surface Plasmon Resonance (ISPR). Aluminum and copper have also been considered because of their potentiality in specific applications.

Optical and structural characterization of reflective quarter wave plates for EUV range

The high demand to understand the optical, electronic, and structure properties of materials has fostered to extend the investigation down to shorter wavelengths in the far ultraviolet (FUV) and extreme ultraviolet (EUV) range. This has pushed scientists to investigate and design new optical tools as wave retarder (QWR) which, coupled with other techniques, can provide valuable information about physical, like magnetic and optical properties of materials. We have designed and studied an EUV polarimetric apparatus based on multilayer structures as QWR with a protective capping layer to avoid oxidation and contamination to improve stability and reflectivity efficiency. This device works within a suitably wide spectral range (88-160 nm) where some important spectral emission lines are as the hydrogen Lyman alpha 121.6 and Oxygen VI (103.2 nm) lines. Such design could be particularly useful as analytical tools in EUV-ellipsometry field. The system can be a relatively simple alternative to Large Scale Facilities and can be applied to test optical components by deriving their efficiency and their phase effect, i.e. determining the Mueller Matrix terms, and even to the analysis of optical surface and interface properties of thin films. In addition, the phase retarder element could be used in other experimental applications for generating EUV radiation beams of suitable polarization or for their characterization.

Optical components in harsh space environment

Space exploration is linked to the development of increasingly innovative instrumentation, able to withstand the operation environment, rich in ion particles and characterized by high temperatures. Future space missions such as JUICE and SOLAR ORBITER will operate in a very harsh and extreme environment-. Electrons and ions are considered among the causes of potential damage of the optical instrumentation and components. Development of hard coatings capable to preserve their optical properties is pivotal. Different coating materials have been exposed to ion irradiation in particle accelerators. Change in optical performances has been observed in the extreme ultraviolet and visible spectral region and structural properties have been analyzed by different techniques. The knowledge of the damage mechanisms and thresholds allows the selection of more promising candidate materials to realize the optical components for the new frontiers space missions.

Study of optical materials to be used on Multi Element Telescope for Imaging and Spectroscopy instrument

Abstract. The European Space Agency mission Solar Orbiter (SOLO) is dedicated to the study of the solar atmosphere and heliosphere. As a part of the payload, the instrument METIS (Multi Element Telescope for Imaging and Spectroscopy) will provide images of the corona, both in the visible range and at the hydrogen Lyman-α emission line (121.6 nm). The realization of optical coatings, based on Al and MgF2, able to reflect/transmit such spectral components is, therefore, necessary. Since optical characteristics of materials in the vacuum ultraviolet range are not well studied and vary greatly with the realization process, we implemented a study of their properties in different deposition conditions. This is aimed to the realization of a custom designed filter able to transmit the 121.6 nm wavelength while reflecting visible light, and thus separating visible from ultraviolet light paths in the METIS instrument.

Thermal analysis experiment to evaluate the stability of multilayer coatings in a space environment close to the sun

The next SOLO (SOLar Orbiter) mission will carry onboard the METIS (Multi Element Telescope for Imaging and Spectroscopy) instrument which will perform broad-band and polarized imaging of the visible K-corona and narrow-band imaging of the UV (HI Ly α, 121.6 nm) and EUV (He II Ly α, 30.4 nm) corona as well as in the visible spectral range. Several multilayer optics with high reflectivity in the all ranges of interest have been studied. Since SOLO will fly at the short distance from the Sun of 0.23 AU at its perihelion, a careful determination of the heat load and the solar wind effect on the multilayers must be carried in order to check if degradation occurs. To test thermal stability, a thermal analysis experiment has been conceived: the proposed multilayer structures, which are based on different pairs of materials and different capping layers design, must be subjected both to heating and cooling, reproducing the temperatures experienced in orbit. Reflectance in the EUV range of interest has been measured before and after each treatment to verify possible degradation.

Multilayer mirrors for FERMIatELETTRA beam transport system

Experiments performed in a Free Electron Laser (FEL) facility can require a selection of higher harmonics; a typical example is the pump and probe experiments in which the system under test is pumped with a fundamental wavelength and probed with its third harmonic. The wavelengths selection performed by a monochromator can affect beam properties such as wavefront deformation or time elongation and its usage in the beam manipulation should be avoided. Nevertheless, for a limited number of wavelengths, the selection can be performed using periodic multilayer coatings (MLs) with the reflectivity peak tuned at the desired harmonic: this technique is already foreseen at the new FERMI@Elettra FEL facility for selecting 20nm, 16nm, 13.5nm and 6.66nm harmonics. In order to improve the fundamental rejection, the MLs have been overcoated by different capping-layers; in particular at shortest wavelength higher rejection ratio have been obtained by the use of a third absorbent material in the capping layer. However, this same approach has not showed considerable improvements at the longest wavelengths, where interferential aperiodic capping-layers designed using a method based on the control of standing wave distribution are to be preferred.

Probing of Hermean Exosphere by ultraviolet spectroscopy: Instrument presentation, calibration philosophy and first lights results

PHEBUS (Probing of Hermean Exosphere by Ultraviolet Spectroscopy) is a double spectrometer for the Extreme Ultraviolet range (55-155 nm) and the Far Ultraviolet range (145-315 nm) dedicated to the characterization of Mercury’s exosphere composition and dynamics, and surface-exosphere connections. PHEBUS is part of the ESA BepiColombo cornerstone mission payload devoted to the study of Mercury. The BepiColombo mission consists of two spacecrafts: the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO) and the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) on which PHEBUS will be mounted. PHEBUS is a French-led instrument implemented in a cooperative scheme involving Japan (detectors), Russia (scanner) and Italy (ground calibration). Before launch, PHEBUS team want to perform a full absolute calibration on ground, in addition to calibrations which will be made in-flight, in order to know the instrument’s response as precisely as possible. Instrument overview and calibration philosophy are introduced along with the first lights results observed by a first prototype.

Refractometers for different refractive index range by surface plasmon resonance sensors in multimode optical fibers with different metals

We have realized a plasmonic sensor based on Au/Pd metal bilayer in a multimode plastic optical fiber. This metal bilayer, based on a metal with high imaginary part of the refractive index and gold, shows interesting properties in terms of sensitivity and performances, in different refractive index ranges. The development of highly sensitive platforms for high refractive index detection (higher than 1.38) is interesting for chemical applications based on molecularly imprinted polymer as receptors, while the aqueous medium is the refractive index range of biosensors based on bio–receptors. In this work we have presented an Au/Pd metal bilayer optimized for 1.38-1.42 refractive index range.

Graphene-like coatings for biosensors devices

The interest in graphene–like materials involves many research areas, including the development of biosensors devices. We have recently studied the use of graphene/metal bilayer for surface plasmon resonance (SPR) equipment devoted to detection of chemical processes and biomolecules recognition. The dual role of graphene is to protect the metal layer underneath and to enhance the bioaffinity by adsorbing biomolecules with carbon–based ring structures. Depending on the application, it may be necessary laser and chemical treatments of graphene to improve the performances of the whole device. The processing effects will be investigated by near edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy. The use of synchrotron light is mandatory for NEXAFS analysis since a continuous EUV source of selected polarization is required. The ideas, the analysis and the results are the subjects of this work.