NewATHENA optics technology

The BEaTriX (Beam Expander Testing X-ray) facility has completed the commissioning phase. This unique compact facility – that occupies an area of 8 x 14 m2 - provides a large (170 mm × 60 mm) collimated (⪅ 2.5 arcsec) monochromatic beam at the energy of 4.51 keV. Its concept is based on the combination of a microfocus x-ray source, a parabolic mirror, and a set of silicon crystals, one of which is asymmetrically cut with respect to the lattice planes. The tests have proven the BEaTriX capability to perform the acceptance tests for Point Spread Function and Effective Area of the NewAthena Silicon Pore Optics Mirror Modules (MM) with a 3 MM/day throughput. The second BEaTriX beamline at the x-ray of 1.49 keV is currently being developed. The optomechanical design, and simulation of alignment tolerances have been completed. The parabolic mirror is being polished at INAF-OAB, on the basis of the experience matured with producing the parabolic mirror for the 4.51 keV beam line. The crystals for the monochromator (Quartz 10-10) and the beam expander (ADP 101) are being procured. Differently from the 4.51 keV beam line, all three crystals for the 1.49 keV are asymmetrically cut, as a special design has been adopted to guarantee the specifications. Owing to the good results obtained by BEaTriX at the INAF labs in Italy, a feasibility study is also ongoing to replicate the facility with a similar design at cosine B.V. in The Netherlands (where the MMs will be produced) for measuring the MMs SPO at 1.49 and 6.4 keV before and after the vibrational tests.

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High-resolution and light-weight silicon pore x-ray optics

Landgraf,

Abalo,

Barrière

et al. 2023

Optics for EUV, X-Ray, and Gamma-Ray Astronomy XI

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Silicon Pore Optics (SPO) have been invented and developed to enable x-ray optics for space applications that require a combination of high angular resolution while being light-weight to allow achieving a large mirror surface area. In 2005, the SPO technology development was initiated by the European Space Agency (ESA) for a flagship x-ray telescope mission and is currently being planned as a baseline for the NewATHENA mission scheduled for launch in the 2030s. Its more than 2m diameter mirror will be segmented and comprises of 492 individual Silicon Pore Optics (SPO) grazing-angle imagers, called mirror modules. Arranged in concentric annuli and following a Wolter-Schwartzschild design, the mirror modules are made of several tens of primary-secondary mirror pairs, each mirror made of silicon, coated to increase the collective area of the system, and shaped to bring the incoming photons to a common focus in 12 m distance. The mission aims to deliver an angular resolution of better than nine arc-seconds (Half-energy width) and effective area of about 1.1 m2 at an energy of 1 keV. We present in this paper the status of the optics production and illustrate not only recent x-ray results but also the progress made on the environmental testing, manufacturing and assembly aspects of SPO based optics.

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NewATHENA optics technology

Cited by 7 publications

References 27 publications

Transmission grating arrays for the X-ray spectrometer on Arcus Probe

Transmission grating arrays for the X-ray spectrometer on Arcus Probe

The BEaTriX x-ray facility at work: activities and future development

High-resolution and light-weight silicon pore x-ray optics

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