Development of x-ray optics at ESA

Marcos Bavdaz; Anthony J. Peacock; Marco W. Beijersbergen; Arvind N. Parmar

doi:10.1117/12.454376

30 January 2002 Development of x-ray optics at ESA

Marcos Bavdaz, Anthony J. Peacock, Marco W. Beijersbergen, Arvind N. Parmar

Proceedings Volume 4496, X-Ray Optics for Astronomy: Telescopes, Multilayers, Spectrometers, and Missions; (2002) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.454376
Event: International Symposium on Optical Science and Technology, 2001, San Diego, CA, United States

Abstract

At the European Space Agency (ESA) X-ray optics are being developed for future astrophysics and planetary missions. The cosmology mission XEUS requires very large effective area X-ray optics which high angular resolution. This implies a large aperture for a single telescope system, which will necessarily require assembly in space from basic mirror modules known as petals. The technology for the implementation of the Wolter-I design is based on the heritage of the XMM-Newton optics, but requires substantial further research and development. With 6 m² effective area at 1 keV the XEUS optics is initially composed of 32 petals arranged in a circular aperture of 4.5m diameter, compatible with single Arian 5 launch into the XEUS orbit. Utilising the available infrastructure at the International Space Station (ISS) 96 additional petals, organised into 8 segments, are added to XEUS, increasing the effective area to 30 m². Key aspects of the XEUS optics are therefore low-mass design, industrialisation of the production and ISS compatibility. As a potential optics for a remote sensing X-ray fluorescence spectrometer, extremely low mass Wolter-I optics are being developed. Based on Micro-Channel Plates (MCP), the mirror thickness can be dramatically reduced, making an accommodation on such missions as the Mercury orbiter of BeppiColombo possible. With a resolution of about 1 arcminute and compact construction, such imaging X-ray optics are well matched to modern Si or GaAs based detector arrays and will allow the mapping of the planetary surface in fluorescent X-ray light with unprecedented sensitivity.

Citation Download Citation

Marcos Bavdaz, Anthony J. Peacock, Marco W. Beijersbergen, and Arvind N. Parmar "Development of x-ray optics at ESA", Proc. SPIE 4496, X-Ray Optics for Astronomy: Telescopes, Multilayers, Spectrometers, and Missions, (30 January 2002); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.454376

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