Characteristics of vacuum ultraviolet emission from a laser-plasma radiation source based on a gas-puff target

The growing interest in solar corona and heliospheric backscatter glow observations in the vacuum ultraviolet, along with technological advancements in the feasibility of vacuum ultraviolet optical components for such applications, underscores the need for improved metrological solutions. This work presents a detailed characterisation of a compact laser‑produced plasma vacuum ultraviolet source based on a double-stream gas-puff target, relevant in the metrology of optical elements for space applications. The measurements include the source spectrum, the number of photons, and the source size for targets produced using different gases. Such a source was used to test optical components of the Lyman-alpha space-based observation systems and remains available for future metrology applications. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first application of a laser-produced plasma vacuum ultraviolet source for characterising space-relevant optical components.