High-resolution VUV spectrometer with multichannel detector for absorption studies of transient species

A new high-resolution VUV spectrometer is demonstrated for applications in the 40–900-Å wavelength range. The instrument is comprised of a laser-plasma VUV source, which provides continuum background illumination, 1.5-m grazing incidence spectrometer, and a 1024-channel VUV optical multichannel analyzer (VUV-OMA). The VUV-OMA is of new design, featuring a special resolution enhanced channel electron multiplier array in an overall configuration chosen to optimize the spatial resolution of the detector while maintaining single-photoelectron sensitivity.