Nanoscale physics

Cluster source of vacuum ultraviolet and 
ultrasoft x-ray radiation: from 
basic research to practical application

Harbuz D. A.1, Doronin Yu. S.2, Lototskaya V. A.2, Tkachenko A. A.2, 
Vakula V. L.2, Kamarchuk G. V.2

1 Department of Physical Chemistry of the National Technical University “Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute”, 2 Kyrpychova Str., Kharkiv −61002, Ukraine.
E-mail: zeyxes@gmail.com

2 B. Verkin Institute for Low Temperature Physics and Engineering of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, 47 Nauky Ave., Kharkiv −61103, Ukraine.

Sources of vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) and ultrasoft x-ray (USX) radiation in the wavelength range between 1 and 200 nm are of considerable interest for research carried out in various areas of physics, chemistry, and engineering.
The operational principle of our VUV and USX radiation source is based on electron excitation of a clustered supersonic gas jet expanding into a vacuum [1]. The use of different inert gases and variation in the cluster size and fraction of the condensate in the jet, as well as in the energy and current of the electron beam, makes it possible to achieve a wide intensity range and spectral distribution of the source [2].
In this work, we studied the impact of VUV and USX radiation on the morphology and structure of CuTCNQ thin-film nanosensors and on the mechanical properties of polyimide films (Kapton H).
The samples were placed in a vacuum chamber kept at a pressure of 10-4 Pa and irradiated in the spectral region from 1.24 nm to 170 nm with an integrated flux of 2∙10-4 W/cm2. The effect of VUV and USX radiation on the mechanical properties (limit of forced elasticity, fracture stress, total deformation to failure and its components) and morphology of the samples was established and studied.
	
1.	Gnatchenko E. V., Nechay A. N., Samovarov V. N., Tkachenko A. A. Polarization bremsstrahlung from xenon atoms and clusters: A cooperative effect contribution // Phys. Rev. A −2010.−82, N 1.−P. 012702. 
2.	Vakula V. L., Danylchenko O. G., Doronin Yu. S., Kamarchuk G.V.,  Konotop O. P., Samovarov V. N., Tkachenko A. A. A new approach to studying the cathodoluminescence spectra of free quasicrystalline and crystalline inert-element clusters // Low Temp. Phys. −2020.−46, N 2.−P. 145-154.