Next generation astronomical x-ray optics: high angular resolution, light weight, and low production cost

Zhang, W. W; Biskach, Michael P.; Blake, P.; Chan, Kai Wing; Gaskin, Jessica A.; Hong, M.; Jones, W. D.; Kolos, Linette D.; Mazzarella, James R.; McClelland, Ryan S.; O’Dell, Stephen L.; Saha, Timo T.; Sharpe, Marton

doi:10.1117/12.926034

Cited by 21 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 27 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Over the last decade we have developed and perfected the slumping process [12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,24] and successfully made thousands of 0.2 mm thick substrates [11] for the NuSTAR mission which was launched in June 2012 and has been in successful operation since. To date, we have been able to consistently make substrates with a figure quality between 4 and 8 arc-seconds HPD (two reflection equivalent), with the most probable (or average) value of 6 arc-seconds HPD.…”

Section: Substrate Fabricationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

et al. 2014

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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.

show abstract

Section: Substrate Fabricationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

et al. 2014

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…We will then demonstrate CAT grating resolving power in an x-ray imaging system. For example we can use Technology Development Module optics from Zhang et al 32 in the Marshall Space Flight Center Stray Light Test Facility as an imaging system. 33 However, demonstrating R = 3000 at this facility has only recently become possible using very high diffraction orders and many hours of integration time for a single diffraction peak.…”

Section: Future Plansmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fabrication of large-area and low mass critical-angle x-ray transmission gratings

et al. 2014

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Soft x-ray spectroscopy of celestial sources with high resolving power R = E/∆E and large collecting area addresses important science listed in the Astro2010 Decadal Survey New Worlds New Horizons, such as the growth of the large scale structure of the universe and its interaction with active galactic nuclei, the kinematics of galactic outflows, as well as coronal emission from stars and other topics. Numerous studies have shown that a transmission grating spectrometer based on lightweight critical-angle transmission (CAT) gratings can deliver R = 3000-5000 and large collecting area with high efficiency and minimal resource requirements, providing spectroscopic figures of merit at least an order of magnitude better than grating spectrometers on Chandra and XMM-Newton, as well as future calorimeter-based missions. The recently developed CAT gratings combine the advantages of transmission gratings (low mass, relaxed figure and alignment tolerances) and blazed reflection gratings (high broad band diffraction efficiency, utilization of higher diffraction orders). Their working principle based on blazing through reflection off the smooth, ultra-high aspect ratio grating bar sidewalls has previously been demonstrated on small samples with x rays. For larger gratings (area greater than 1 inch square) we developed a fabrication process for grating membranes with a hierarchy of integrated low-obscuration supports. The fabrication involves a combination of advanced lithography and highly anisotropic dry and wet etching techniques. We report on the latest fabrication results of free-standing, large-area CAT gratings with polished sidewalls and preliminary x-ray tests.

show abstract

“…Future high throughput optics for x-ray astronomy requires incorporation of a large number of very thin mirror segments into a very compact telescope 1,2,3,4,5 . The most viable approach for very large x-ray telescopes presently is to concentrically nest thin mirror segments together into modules, which are then integrated to form a large telescope.…”

Section: Preserving Mirror Figures For Lightweight X-ray Opticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the preparatory step, a mirror segment is fabricated and a metallic film (annealed) is deposited (2). Clips are attached to the mirror to spread the load and enlarge the area for subsequent bonding.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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

et al. 2014

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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.

show abstract

Next generation astronomical x-ray optics: high angular resolution, light weight, and low production cost

Cited by 21 publications

References 27 publications

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

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

Fabrication of large-area and low mass critical-angle x-ray transmission gratings

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

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About