Conception of broadband stigmatic high-resolution spectrometers for the soft X-ray range

We formulate an approach to the development of stigmatic high-resolution spectral instruments for the soft X-ray range (λ ≤ 300 Å), which is based on the combined operation of normalincidence multilayer mirrors (including broadband aperiodic ones) and grazing-incidence reflection gratings with nonequidistant grooves (so-called VLS gratings). A concave multilayer mirror serves to produce a slightly astigmatic image of the radiation source (for instance, an entrance slit), and the diffraction grating produces a set of its dispersed stigmatic spectral images. The width of the operating spectral region is determined by the aperiodic structure of the multilayer mirror and may range up to an octave in wavelength.