Fabrication of single crystal silicon mirror substrates for X-ray astronomical missions

Riveros, Raul E.; Bly, Vincent T.; Kolos, Linette D.; McKeon, Kevin P.; Mazzarella, James R.; Miller, Timothy M.; Zhang, William W.

doi:10.1117/12.2056889

Cited by 8 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…The main disadvantage is that each substrate requires a polishing process that may be slow and expensive. Our experimental effort in the past year has enabled us to develop a polishing and light-weighting process that is based on existing equipment and technology and that takes advantage of the near cylindrical geometry of x-ray mirrors and that achieves high efficiency and low cost [25].…”

Section: Substrate Fabricationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Affordable and lightweight high-resolution x-ray optics for astronomical missions

et al. 2014

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Future x-ray astronomical missions require x-ray mirror assemblies that provide both high angular resolution and large photon collecting area. In addition, as x-ray astronomy undertakes more sensitive sky surveys, a large field of view is becoming increasingly important as well. Since implementation of these requirements must be carried out in broad political and economical contexts, any technology that meets these performance requirements must also be financially affordable and can be implemented on a reasonable schedule. In this paper we report on progress of an x-ray optics development program that has been designed to address all of these requirements. The program adopts the segmented optical design, thereby is capable of making both small and large mirror assemblies for missions of any size. This program has five technical elements: (1) fabrication of mirror substrates, (2) coating, (3) alignment, (4) bonding, and (5) mirror module systems engineering and testing. In the past year we have made progress in each of these five areas, advancing the angular resolution of mirror modules from 10.8 arc-seconds half-power diameter reported (HPD) a year ago to 8.3 arc-seconds now. These mirror modules have been subjected to and passed all environmental tests, including vibration, acoustic, and thermal vacuum. As such this technology is ready for implementing a mission that requires a 10-arc-second mirror assembly. Further development in the next two years would make it ready for a mission requiring a 5-arc-second mirror assembly. We expect that, by the end of this decade, this technology would enable the x-ray astrophysical community to compete effectively for a major xray mission in the 2020s that would require one or more 1-arc-second mirror assemblies for imaging, spectroscopic, timing, and survey studies.

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Section: Substrate Fabricationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Concurrently, we are developing a process of fabricating mirror substrates out of single crystal silicon [25]. Single crystal silicon is structurally perfect because every atom is at its lattice location and the material as a whole is free of internal stress.…”

Section: Substrate Fabricationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Affordable and lightweight high-resolution x-ray optics for astronomical missions

et al. 2014

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“…In this paper, we will report the work of mirror processes without distortion, especially on mirror coating and bonding. The issues with substrate fabrication 15 , telescope module construction and integration 16 will be reported elsewhere. We will report on our effort leading to the realization of 10 arc-second optics, and describe our technology plan towards our immediate next goal of a 5 arc-second telescope.…”

Section: Preserving Mirror Figures For Lightweight X-ray Opticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Preserving accurate figures in coating and bonding mirrors for lightweight x-ray telescopes

et al. 2014

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Lightweight, high-resolution, high throughput optics for x-ray astronomy requires fabrication and integration of thin mirrors segments with arc-second precision. In this paper, we present results on our effort leading to the most recent two test modules achieving the intermediate goal of 10 arc-second resolution. We will address issues of coating and bonding thin glass mirrors with negligible distortion. Annealing of sputtered high-density metallic films was found to be sufficiently accurate. We will present result from tests of bonding mirrors onto experimental strongbacks, as well as the sensitivity on bonding procedure, bond parameters and environment.

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“…The mirror substrate fabrication process, [19][20][21][22][23] shown in Fig. 2, starts with a commercially procured block of monocrystalline silicon, measuring 150 mm × 150 mm × 75 mm, shown in the upper-left panel.…”

Section: Mirror Substrate Fabricationmentioning

confidence: 99%

High-resolution, lightweight, and low-cost x-ray optics for the Lynx observatory

Zhang

Allgood

Biskach

et al. 2019

J. Astron. Telesc. Instrum. Syst.

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We describe an approach to build an x-ray mirror assembly that can meet Lynx's requirements of high-angular resolution, large effective area, light weight, short production schedule, and low-production cost. Adopting a modular hierarchy, the assembly is composed of 37,492 mirror segments, each of which measures ∼100 mm × 100 mm × 0.5 mm. These segments are integrated into 611 modules, which are individually tested and qualified to meet both science performance and spaceflight environment requirements before they in turn are integrated into 12 metashells. The 12 metashells are then integrated to form the mirror assembly. This approach combines the latest precision polishing technology and the monocrystalline silicon material to fabricate the thin and lightweight mirror segments. Because of the use of commercially available equipment and material and because of its highly modular and hierarchical building-up process, this approach is highly amenable to automation and mass production to maximize production throughput and to minimize production schedule and cost. As of fall 2018, the basic elements of this approach, including substrate fabrication, coating, alignment, and bonding, have been validated by the successful building and testing of single-pair mirror modules. In the next few years, the many steps of the approach will be refined and perfected by repeatedly building and testing mirror modules containing progressively more mirror segments to fully meet science performance, spaceflight environments, as well as programmatic requirements of the Lynx mission and other proposed missions, such as AXIS. © The Authors. Published by SPIE under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. Distribution or reproduction of this work in whole or in part requires full attribution of the original publication, including its DOI.

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Fabrication of single crystal silicon mirror substrates for X-ray astronomical missions

Cited by 8 publications

References 3 publications

Affordable and lightweight high-resolution x-ray optics for astronomical missions

Affordable and lightweight high-resolution x-ray optics for astronomical missions

Preserving accurate figures in coating and bonding mirrors for lightweight x-ray telescopes

High-resolution, lightweight, and low-cost x-ray optics for the Lynx observatory

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