The Palermo XACT facility: a new 35 m long soft x-ray beam-line for the development and calibration of next-generation x-ray observatories

Abstract

The X-ray Astronomy Calibration and Testing (XACT) facility of the Instituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF) at\ud Osservatorio Astronomico di Palermo has recently undergone a major upgrade with the design and construction of a 35\ud meter long vacuum beam-line operating in the soft X-rays (0.1-20 keV) and the addition of new hardware to meet the\ud requirements for testing and calibration of next generation X-ray missions. We report on the present configuration of\ud the facility and briefly survey the range of its applications

Visible light apparatus for preliminary tests of x-ray optics

“…Since then, the facility has been actively used in several research projects. 6 In the last three years significant upgrades have been implemented to extend the capabilities of the facility to participate in the development and calibration programs of future X-ray missions. * A certain number of actions have been implemented, namely:…”

Calibration of the lunar orbital x-ray fluorescence imaging spectrometer (LOXIA) of Chang'E-1 satellite at INAF-OAPA

“…In the last three years significant upgrades have been implemented to extend the capabilities of the facility to participate in the development and calibration programs of future X-ray missions [5], namely:…”

“…The LOXIA flight unit has been calibrated at the Institute of High Energy Physics of the Academy of Sciences, Beijing, and has been installed in the spacecraft to be launched within 2007. A flight spare unit has been calibrated at the X-ray Astronomy Calibration and Testing (XACT) facility [4,5] of Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF)-Osservatorio Astronomico di Palermo G.S. Vaiana (OAPA), Italy in April 2007.…”

The young hard active Sun: soft X-ray irradiation of tryptophan in water solutions

“…The facility, designed for development and calibration of X-ray astronomical instruments, includes several sources, monochromators and detectors covering the wavelength range 0.6-7000 Å (see Collura et al 1994 andBarbera et al 2006 for a detailed description). Vaiana'.…”