Soft X-ray reflectivity: from quasi-perfect mirrors to accelerator walls

Reflection of light from surfaces is a very common, but complex phenomenon not only in science and technology, but in every day life. The underlying basic optical principles have been developed within the last five centuries using visible light available from the sun or other laboratory light sources. X-rays were detected in 1895, and the full potential of soft- and hard-x ray radiation as a probe for the electronic and geometric properties of matter, for material analysis and its characterisation is available only since the advent of synchrotron radiation sources some 50 years ago. On the other hand high-brilliance and high power synchrotron radiation of present-days 3rd and 4th generation light sources is not always beneficial. High energy machines and accelerator-based light sources can suffer from a serious performance drop or limitations due to interaction of the synchrotron radiation with the accelerator walls, thus producing clouds of photoelectrons (e-cloud) which in turn interact with the accelerated beam. Thus the suitable choice of accelerator materials and their surface coating, which determines the x-ray optical behaviour is of utmost importance to achieve ultimate emittance. Basic optical principles and examples on reflectivity for selected materials are given here. (author)