Multilayer structures for the soft X-ray range were designed as normal incidence mirrors or as linear polarizers at the Brewster angle. Their reflectance was measured with special emphasis on the absorption edges of the multilayer materials. The measurements not only revealed pairs of reflectance peaks at the L edges of Ti, V and Ni, which can be explained by the spin-orbit splitting of the p levels, but also a pair of peaks at the K edge of carbon.