Development of lightweight x-ray mirrors for the Constellation-X mission

William W. Zhang; David A. Content; John P. Lehan; Robert Petre; Timo T. Saha; Mikhail Gubarev; William D. Jones; Stephen L. O'Dell

doi:10.1117/12.614462

8 September 2005 Development of lightweight x-ray mirrors for the Constellation-X mission

William W. Zhang, David A. Content, John P. Lehan, Robert Petre, Timo T. Saha, Mikhail Gubarev, William D. Jones, Stephen L. O'Dell

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 5900, Optics for EUV, X-Ray, and Gamma-Ray Astronomy II; 59000V (2005) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.614462
Event: Optics and Photonics 2005, 2005, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

The Constellation-X mission's Spectroscopic X-Ray Telescopes (SXT) require an angular resolution of 15" half-power diameter (HPD) with extremely lightweight grazing incidence mirrors. The areal density of the mirror must be about 1 kg/m² or less. In comparison with the state of the art X-ray mirrors represented by the XMM/Newton telescopes, this is approximately an order of magnitude less in mass areal density while maintaining the same angular resolution. We use a precision glass forming technique to fabricate mirrors that are 0.4mm thick and optical metrology to demonstrate that these mirrors can meet the stringent figure and micro-roughness requirements of the Constellation-X mission. We expect in the next few years to significantly improve the production yield and mirror quality to meet the goal of the mission, which is 5" HPD for two reflections at the same mass.

Citation Download Citation

William W. Zhang, David A. Content, John P. Lehan, Robert Petre, Timo T. Saha, Mikhail Gubarev, William D. Jones, and Stephen L. O'Dell "Development of lightweight x-ray mirrors for the Constellation-X mission", Proc. SPIE 5900, Optics for EUV, X-Ray, and Gamma-Ray Astronomy II, 59000V (8 September 2005); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.614462

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