Method for producing an XUV and X-ray diffractive optic

A method for printing a micro-scaled or nano-scaled XUV and/or X-ray diffractive optic, comprising the following steps:

• a) providing a material comprising a first component and a second component, wherein the first component is photo-sensitive and is polymerizable by two-photon-absorption, wherein the second component comprises a metal salt and/or nano particles, and wherein the second component has a higher electron density than the first component and yields a specific refractive index and absorption value in the XUV and/or X-ray diffractive optic when the material is polymerized,
• b) providing data of a desired geometrical structure of the optic and creating at least one trajectory corresponding to the data of the desired structure of the optic,
• c) providing a first high-intensity energy beam, wherein the beam comprises a focus (F) having a position being adjustable to a plurality of positions (F1, F2, . . . , F8) being coincident with the at least one trajectory,
• d) polymerization of the material by two-photon-absorption at a first position (F1) of the focus (F), thereby creating a first voxel (V1) of the structure of the optic,
• e) adjusting the position of the focus (F) from the first position (F1) to a subsequent position (F2) of the focus (F) along the at least one trajectory (8) and repeating step d) at the subsequent position (F2) of the focus (F),
• wherein a distance (d) between each of the positions (F1, F2, . . . , Fp) of the focus (F) and at least one of the rest of the positions (F1, F2, . . . , Fp) of the focus (F) is smaller than a mean diameter (vd) of the voxels (V1, V2;
• V1, V6;
• V2, V3;
• V2, V5;
• V3, V4;
• V4, V5;
• V4, V8;
• V5, V6;
• V6, V7) produced at these positions with respect to their dimension parallel to the distance (d).