Progress at the ESRF multilayer facility

The ESRF multilayer (ML) deposition facility is fully operational since 2009. By the end of 2011, almost 50 ML projects were completed using the new machine, bringing the total number to 143 since 1998. Thanks to the new equipment and its improved performance the throughput could be significantly increased. The ESRF upgrade project caused strong demands for new ML optics, in particular dynamically bent KB focusing devices requiring very precise and steeply graded ML coatings. Thanks to this technology, the ESRF nano-imaging end-station ID22NI now provides the users with spot sizes of the order of 50×50 nm2 at a photon flux of 1012 ph/s. Among various in-house research and development activities the study of stress evolution during thin film and ML growth will be highlighted. Additional projects involving a PhD student and a PostDoc fellow cover the fields of wave optical simulations using curved MLs and the exposure of ML based monochromators to the white beam.