OPTICAL ELEMENT FOR REFLECTING VUV RADIATION AND OPTICAL ARRANGEMENT

摘要

The invention relates to an optical element (4) for reflecting radiation in the VUV wavelength range, comprising: a substrate (41), and a reflective coating (42) which is applied to the substrate (41) and has at least one aluminium layer (43). At least one hydrogen-catalytic layer (45) for dissociation of molecular hydrogen (Ha) is applied to the aluminium layer (43). The invention also relates to an optical arrangement for the VUV wavelength range, comprising: an interior, in which at least one optical element is arranged, and at least one gas inlet for feeding a gas into the interior. In an aspect of the invention, the optical element (4) is designed as described above and the gas inlet serves to feed hydrogen into the interior. In another aspect of the invention, the optical arrangement comprises a plasma-generating device for feeding a plasma gas through the gas inlet into the interior to generate an atmospheric-pressure plasma on at least a portion of an optical surface of the optical element.