This article describes BabyIAXO, an intermediate experimental stage of the International Axion Observatory (IAXO), proposed to be sited at DESY. IAXO is a large-scale axion helioscope that will look for axions and axion-like particles (ALPs), produced in the Sun, with unprecedented sensitivity. BabyIAXO is conceived to test all IAXO subsystems (magnet, optics and detectors) at a relevant scale for the final system and thus serve as prototype for IAXO, but at the same time as a fully-fledged helioscope with relevant physics reach itself, and with potential for discovery. The BabyIAXO magnet will feature two 10 m long, 70 cm diameter bores, and will host two detection lines (optics and detector) of dimensions similar to the final ones foreseen for IAXO. BabyIAXO will detect or reject solar axions or ALPs with axion-photon couplings down to gaγ ∼ 1.5 × 10−11 GeV−1, and masses up to ma ∼ 0.25 eV. BabyIAXO will offer additional opportunities for axion research in view of IAXO, like the development of precision x-ray detectors to identify particular spectral features in the solar axion spectrum, and the implementation of radiofrequency-cavity-based axion dark matter setups.

We present the latest progress on the industrial scale coating facility for the Advanced Telescope for High-ENergy Astrophysics (ATHENA) mission. The facility has been successfully commissioned and tested, completing an important milestone in preparation of the Silicon Pore Optics (SPO) production capability. We qualified the coating facility by depositing iridium and boron carbide thin films in different configurations under various process conditions including pre-coating in-system plasma cleaning. The thin films were characterized with X-Ray Reflectometry (XRR) using laboratory X-ray sources Cu K-α at 8.048 keV and PTB's four-crystal monochromator beamline at the synchrotron radiation facility BESSY II in the energy range from 3.6 keV to 10.0 keV. Additional X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) measurements were performed with Al K-α radiation to analyze the composition of the deposited thin films.

Excellent X-ray reflective mirror coatings are key in order to meet the performance requirements of the ATHENA telescope. The baseline coating design of ATHENA was initially formed by Ir/B 4 C but extensive studies have identified critical issues with the stability of the B 4 C top layer which shows strong evolution over time and appears incompatible with the industrialization processes required for the production of mirror modules. Motivated by the need for a compatible top layer material to improve the telescope performance at low energies and based on simulated performance, a SiC top layer has been selected as the best substitute to B 4 C. We report the latest development of Ir/SiC bilayer coatings optimized for ATHENA and the characterization of coating performance and stability.

This article describes BabyIAXO, an intermediate experimental stage of the International Axion Observatory (IAXO), proposed to be sited at DESY. IAXO is a largescale axion helioscope that will look for axions and axion-like particles (ALPs), produced in the Sun, with unprecedented sensitivity. BabyIAXO is conceived to test all IAXO subsystems (magnet, optics and detectors) at a relevant scale for the final system and thus serve as prototype for IAXO, but at the same time as a fully-fledged helioscope with relevant physics reach itself, and with potential for discovery. The BabyIAXO magnet will feature two 10 m long, 70 cm diameter bores, and will host two detection lines (optics and detector) of dimensions similar to the final ones foreseen for IAXO. BabyIAXO will detect or reject solar axions or ALPs with axion-photon couplings down to g aγ ∼ 1.5 × 10 −11 GeV −1 , and masses up to m a ∼ 0.25 eV. BabyIAXO will offer additional opportunities for axion research in view of IAXO, like the development of precision x-ray detectors to identify particular spectral features in the solar axion spectrum, and the implementation of radiofrequency-cavity-based axion dark matter setups. 7 BabyIAXO structure and drive system 58 7.1 Requirements 58 7.2 Foundations 60 7.3 Positioner: tower, head and yokes 61 7.4 Mechanical elements of the drive assemblies 63 7.5 Support frame 64 8 BabyIAXO site and infrastructure 65 8.1 Civil engineering 65 8.2 HERA South Hall 66 8.3 Data acquisition and control 67 9 Conclusions 68 10 Acknowledgements 68 * Notice, however, that the recent analysis in Ref. [48] indicates no exotic energy loss.

SynopsisA local analysis of the flow of power law fluids near corners is performed. The equation for the stream function is shown to allow separated solutions in plane polar coordinates. The radial behavior is shown to be algebraic and results are given for the exponent for different values of corner angle and power law exponent. In addition, the critical angle for the onset of an eddy structure is found as function of the power law exponent.