Absolute determination of the wavelength and spectrum of an extreme-ultraviolet beam by a Young's double-slit measurement

The interference pattern produced by irradiation of a pair of pinholes with a beam contains information on both the spatial and the temporal coherence properties of the beam, as well as its power spectrum. We demonstrate experimentally for what is believed to be the first time that the spectrum of an extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) beam can be obtained from a measurement. of the interference pattern produced by a pinhole pair. This approach offers a convenient method of making absolute wavelength and relative spectral intensity calibrations in the EUV. (C) 2002 Optical Society of America.