| With the availability of high reflectivity multilayer mirrors and zone plate lenses, the EUV region (5nm - 40nm) of the electromagnetic spectrum is currently being explored for applications of nanoscale printing and imaging. Advances made in this area have consequences for many areas of science. Research for producing a compact, bright EUV source for laboratory use has gained momentum in recent years.;For this study, EUV radiation is produced by irradiating target materials using a focused laser beam. Focused laser beam ionizes the target to create a hot, dense, pulsed plasma source, where emission is a result of the relaxation of excited levels. Spectroscopy is used as the main diagnostic to obtain the spectral signature of the plasma.;Spectral characteristics are used to deduce the physical state of plasma, thus enabling the tuning of laser irradiance conditions to maximize the needed emission bandwidth. Various target materials are studied, as well as different target geometries, with spectroscopy below 200 nm on pulsed micro-plasmas being a particularly daunting task. Total range spectroscopy from 1 nm to greater than 1 micron is completed for tin-doped spherical droplet plasma source.;Reliable plasma diagnostics require both accurate measurements and solid theoretical support in order to interpret the experimental results. Using existing 1D-hydrocode, temperature and density characteristics of the expanding plasma is simulated for any set of experimental conditions. Existing atomic codes written for calculating one-electron radial wavefunctions with LS-coupling scheme via Hartree-Fock method is used in order to gain details of the ion stages, populations, transitions, etc, contributing to the spectral data. |
