Concepts for high-performance soft X-ray grating spectroscopy in a moderate-scale mission

Bautz, Marshall W.; Cash, Webster; Davis, John E.; Heilmann, Ralf K.; Huenemoerder, David P.; Schattenburg, Mark L.; McEntaffer, Randall L.; Wolk, S. J.; Zhang, William W.; Jordan, Steven P.; Lillie, Charles F.

doi:10.1117/12.926810

Cited by 12 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…2) along the ẑ axis and parallel to the xy plane. This distance is typical of X-ray grating spectrometer architectures recently studied by NASA [1,7]. A direction cosine diagram illustrating our assumptions is shown in Fig.…”

Section: Assumptionsmentioning

confidence: 81%

Analytical alignment tolerances for off-plane reflection grating spectroscopy

Allured

McEntaffer

2013

Exp Astron

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Future NASA X-ray Observatories will shed light on a variety of high-energy astrophysical phenomena. Off-plane reflection gratings can be used to provide high throughput and spectral resolution in the 0.3-1.5 keV band, allowing for unprecedented diagnostics of energetic astrophysical processes. A grating spectrometer consists of multiple aligned gratings intersecting the converging beam of a Wolter-I telescope. Each grating will be aligned such that the diffracted spectra overlap at the focal plane. Misalignments will degrade both spectral resolution and effective area. In this paper we present an analytical formulation of alignment tolerances that define grating orientations in all six degrees of freedom. We verify our analytical results with raytrace simulations to fully explore the alignment parameter space. We also investigate the effect of misalignments on diffraction efficiency.

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Section: Assumptionsmentioning

confidence: 81%

Analytical alignment tolerances for off-plane reflection grating spectroscopy

Allured

McEntaffer

2013

Exp Astron

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“…This is followed by a layer of nanoimprint resist which is spin-coated atop the nitride (1). Nanoimprint lithography (NIL) is then employed to transfer the radially ruled groove pattern of the master grating into the resist layer (2). An RIE deepens the groove troughs, etching through the residual resist and nitride layer to the silicon substrate (3).…”

Section: Gratings For the Off-plane Mountmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pushing the boundaries of X-ray grating spectroscopy in a suborbital rocket

DeRoo¹,

McEntaffer

Schultz

et al. 2013

SPIE Proceedings

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The Off-Plane Grating Rocket Experiment (OGRE) will greatly advance the current capabilities of soft X-ray grating spectroscopy and provide an important technological bridge towards future X-ray observatories. The OGRE sounding rocket will fly an innovative X-ray spectrograph operating at resolving powers of R ~ 2000 and effective areas > 100 cm 2 in the 0.2-1.5 keV bandpass. This represents a factor of two improvement in spectral resolution over currently operating instruments. OGRE will observe the astrophysical X-ray calibration source Capella, which has a linedominated spectrum and will showcase the full capabilities of the OGRE spectrograph. We outline the mission design for OGRE and provide detailed overviews of relevant technologies to be integrated into the payload, including slumped glass mirrors, blazed reflection gratings customized for the off-plane mount, and electron-multiplying CCDs (EMCCDs). The OGRE mission will bring these components to a high technology readiness level, paving the way for the use of such a spectrograph on future X-ray observatories or Explorer-class missions.

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“…The WRXR was a technology-driven astrophysics payload that sought to demonstrate the performance of two technologies assigned the highest priority to NASA Astrophysics technology development in the 2019 Astrophysics Biennial Technology Report: 1 x-ray reflection gratings and an x-ray hybrid CMOS detector (HCD). Both technologies were studied or are actively under development for the Lynx flagship mission concept, [2][3][4] explorer and probe mission concepts, [5][6][7][8] and smaller missions, such as suborbital rocket payloads 9,10 and cubesats. 11 The WRXR, along with the Colorado Highresolution Echelle Stellar Spectrograph, 12 also enabled the first successful demonstrations of NASA water recovery technology for astrophysics suborbital rocket payloads.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Water Recovery X-Ray Rocket grating spectrometer

Miles

Hull

Schultz

et al. 2019

J. Astron. Telesc. Instrum. Syst.

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The Water Recovery X-Ray Rocket (WRXR) was a suborbital rocket payload that was launched and recovered in April 2018. The WRXR flew two technologies being developed for future large x-ray missions: x-ray reflection gratings and a hybrid CMOS detector (HCD). The large-format replicated gratings on the WRXR were measured in ground calibrations to have absolute single-order diffraction efficiency of ∼60%, ∼50%, and ∼35% at CVI, OVII, and OVIII emission energies, respectively. The HCD was operated with ∼6 e − read noise and ∼88 eV energy resolution at 0.5 keV. The WRXR was also part of a two-payload campaign that successfully demonstrated NASA sounding rocket water recovery technology for science payloads. The primary instrument, a soft x-ray grating spectrometer, targeted diffuse emission from the Vela supernova remnant over a field-of-view >10 deg 2 . The flight data show that the detector was operational during flight and detected x-ray events from an on-board calibration source, but there was no definitive detection of x-ray events from Vela. Flight results are presented along with a discussion of factors that could have contributed to the null detection.

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Concepts for high-performance soft X-ray grating spectroscopy in a moderate-scale mission

Cited by 12 publications

References 0 publications

Analytical alignment tolerances for off-plane reflection grating spectroscopy

Analytical alignment tolerances for off-plane reflection grating spectroscopy

Pushing the boundaries of X-ray grating spectroscopy in a suborbital rocket

Water Recovery X-Ray Rocket grating spectrometer

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