Optical design for ATHENA X-ray telescope based on slumped mirror segments

Laura Proserpio; Elias Breunig; Peter Friedrich; Anita Winter

doi:10.1117/12.2055135

24 July 2014 Optical design for ATHENA X-ray telescope based on slumped mirror segments

Laura Proserpio, Elias Breunig, Peter Friedrich, Anita Winter

Proceedings Volume 9144, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2014: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray; 91445L (2014) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2055135
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2014, Montréal, Quebec, Canada

Abstract

The Hot and Energetic Universe will be the focus of future ESA missions: in late 2013 the theme was selected for the second large-class mission in the Cosmic Vision science program. Fundamental questions on how and why ordinary matter assemble into galaxies and clusters, and how black holes grow and influence their surroundings can be addressed with an advanced X-ray observatory. The currently proposed ATHENA mission presents all the potentiality to answer the outstanding questions. It is based on the heritage of XMM-Newton and on the previous studies for IXO mission. The scientific payload will require state of the art instrumentations. In particular, the baseline for the X-ray optical system, delivering a combination of large area, high angular resolution, and large field of view, is the Silicon Pore Optics technology (SPO) developed by ESA in conjunction with the Cosine Measurement Systems. The slumping technology is also under development for the manufacturing of future X-ray telescopes: for several years the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial physics (MPE) has been involved in the analysis of the indirect slumping approach, which foresees the manufacturing of segmented X-ray shells by shaping thin glass foils at high temperatures over concave moulds so to avoid any contact of the optical surface with other materials during the process, preserving in this way the original X-ray quality of the glass surface. The paper presents an alternative optical design for ATHENA based on the use of thin glass mirror segments obtained through slumping.

Citation Download Citation

Laura Proserpio, Elias Breunig, Peter Friedrich, and Anita Winter "Optical design for ATHENA X-ray telescope based on slumped mirror segments", Proc. SPIE 9144, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2014: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray, 91445L (24 July 2014); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2055135

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