In situ dc oxygen-discharge cleaning system for optical elements

I n situ dc oxygen-discharge cleaning arrangements have been developed at the Photon Factory for the removal of carbon contamination from optical surfaces. A high cleaning rate could be achieved by producing an oxygen plasma close to the optical elements with special care taken to avoid any harmful effects from the discharge; contaminant carbon was completely removed within a few hours, at most. This short exposure time and the use of dry oxygen gas resulted in a restoration of the original ultrahigh vacuum without a bakeout. Results with a Seya-Namioka beamline for gas-phase experiments showed a flux enhancement amounting to a factor of 50, and results with a grasshopper beamline showed a nearly complete recovery of the light intensity, even at the carbon K edge.