Toward active x-ray telescopes II

Stephen L. O'Dell; Thomas L. Aldcroft; Carolyn Atkins; Timothy W. Button; Vincenzo Cotroneo; William N. Davis; Peter Doel; Charlotte H. Feldman; Mark D. Freeman; Mikhail V. Gubarev; Raegan L. Johnson-Wilke; Jeffery J. Kolodziejczak; Charles F. Lillie; Alan G. Michette; Brian D. Ramsey; Paul B. Reid; Daniel Rodriguez Sanmartin; Timo T. Saha; Daniel A. Schwartz; Susan E. Trolier-McKinstry; Melville P. Ulmer; Rudeger H. T. Wilke; Richard Willingale; William W. Zhang

doi:10.1117/12.930090

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15 October 2012 Toward active x-ray telescopes II

Stephen L. O'Dell, Thomas L. Aldcroft, Carolyn Atkins, Timothy W. Button, Vincenzo Cotroneo, William N. Davis, Peter Doel, Charlotte H. Feldman, Mark D. Freeman, Mikhail V. Gubarev, Raegan L. Johnson-Wilke, Jeffery J. Kolodziejczak, Charles F. Lillie, Alan G. Michette, Brian D. Ramsey, Paul B. Reid, Daniel Rodriguez Sanmartin, Timo T. Saha, Daniel A. Schwartz, Susan E. Trolier-McKinstry, Melville P. Ulmer, Rudeger H. T. Wilke, Richard Willingale, William W. Zhang

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Proceedings Volume 8503, Adaptive X-Ray Optics II; 850307 (2012) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.930090
Event: SPIE Optical Engineering + Applications, 2012, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

In the half century since the initial discovery of an astronomical (non-solar) x-ray source, the observation time required to achieve a given sensitivity has decreased by eight orders of magnitude. Largely responsible for this dramatic progress has been the refinement of the (grazing-incidence) focusing x-ray telescope, culminating with the exquisite subarcsecond imaging performance of the Chandra X-ray Observatory. The future of x-ray astronomy relies upon the development of x-ray telescopes with larger aperture areas (< 1 m²) and comparable or finer angular resolution (< 1″). Combined with the special requirements of grazing-incidence optics, the mass and envelope constraints of space-borne telescopes render such advances technologically challenging—requiring precision fabrication, alignment, and assembly of large areas (< 200 m²) of lightweight (≈ 1 kg m^-2 areal density) mirrors. Achieving precise and stable alignment and figure control may entail active (in-space adjustable) x-ray optics. This paper discusses relevant programmatic and technological issues and summarizes current progress toward active x-ray telescopes.

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