Design, Fabrication and Test of a Soft X-Ray Even-Order Transmission Grating

Most transmission gratings in the x-ray region work with their first orders and dispersion is limited by the line density achievable with current fabrication technology. We present a novel design of a two-dimensional x-ray
transmission grating. The grating works with higher dispersion using its second orders, and the influence from first and third orders can be suppressed. A grating according to the novel design is fabricated and its diffraction performance is tested in comparison with a traditional x-ray transmission grating with the same line density. The novel grating could be especially useful when high dispersion is desired while the fabrication of high-density gratings becomes more difficult.