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2023•Unpublished venueOpen access

High-resolution and light-weight silicon pore x-ray optics

Boris Landgraf, Luis Abalo, Nicolas M. Barrière, Alex Bayerle, Donny de Borst, Luigi Castiglione, Maximilien J. Collon, Loes Crama, Abdelhakim Chatbi, Noë Eenkhoorn, David Girou, Ramses Günther, Enrico Hauser, Roy van der Hoeven, Jasper den Hollander, Yvette Jenkins, Adam Lassise, Laurens Keek, Christian Körnig, Sebastian Obwaller, Ben Okma, Paulo da Silva Ribeiro, Chris Rizos, Aniket Thete, Giuseppe Vacanti, Sjoerd Verhoeckx, Mark Vervest, Roel Visser, Luc Voruz, Marcos Bavdaz, Eric Wille, Ivo Ferreira, Mathijs Bosman, Jeroen Haneveld, Arenda Koelewijn, Jan-Joost Lankwarden, Mark Olde Riekerink, Bart Schurink, Ronald Start, Maurice Wijnperlé, Coen van Baren, Levent Cibik, Michael Krumrey, Dieter Skroblin, V. Burwitz, Finn E. Christensen, Desirée Della Monica Ferreira, Sonny Massahi, D. Sanz, Sara Svendsen, Ethan Dunnell, Paul Lupton, William Mundon, Andrew Rees, D. Watley

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Abstract

Silicon Pore Optics (SPO) have been invented and developed to enable x-ray optics for space applications that require a combination of high angular resolution while being light-weight to allow achieving a large mirror surface area. In 2005, the SPO technology development was initiated by the European Space Agency (ESA) for a flagship x-ray telescope mission and is currently being planned as a baseline for the NewATHENA mission scheduled for launch in the 2030s. Its more than 2m diameter mirror will be segmented and comprises of 492 individual Silicon Pore Optics (SPO) grazing-angle imagers, called mirror modules. Arranged in concentric annuli and following a Wolter-Schwartzschild design, the mirror modules are made of several tens of primary-secondary mirror pairs, each mirror made of silicon, coated to increase the collective area of the system, and shaped to bring the incoming photons to a common focus in 12 m distance. The mission aims to deliver an angular resolution of better than nine arc-seconds (Half-energy width) and effective area of about 1.1 m2 at an energy of 1 keV. We present in this paper the status of the optics production and illustrate not only recent x-ray results but also the progress made on the environmental testing, manufacturing and assembly aspects of SPO based optics.

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Silicon Pore Optics (SPO) have been invented and developed to enable x-ray optics for space applications that require a combination of high angular resolution while being light-weight to allow achieving a large mirror surface area. In 2005, the SPO technology development was initiated by the European Space Agency (ESA) for a flagship x-ray telescope mission and is currently being planned as a baseline for the NewATHENA mission scheduled for launch in the 2030s. Its more than 2m diameter mirror will be segmented and comprises of 492 individual Silicon Pore Optics (SPO) grazing-angle imagers, called mirror modules. Arranged in concentric annuli and following a Wolter-Schwartzschild design, the mirror modules are made of several tens of primary-secondary mirror pairs, each mirror made of silicon, coated to increase the collective area of the system, and shaped to bring the incoming photons to a common focus in 12 m distance. The mission aims to deliver an angular resolution of better than nine arc-seconds (Half-energy width) and effective area of about 1.1 m2 at an energy of 1 keV. We present in this paper the status of the optics production and illustrate not only recent x-ray results but also the progress made on the environmental testing, manufacturing and assembly aspects of SPO based optics.

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Available abstract

Silicon Pore Optics (SPO) have been invented and developed to enable x-ray optics for space applications that require a combination of high angular resolution while being light-weight to allow achieving a large mirror surface area. In 2005, the SPO technology development was initiated by the European Space Agency (ESA) for a flagship x-ray telescope mission and is currently being planned as a baseline for the NewATHENA mission scheduled for launch in the 2030s. Its more than 2m diameter mirror will be segmented and comprises of 492 individual Silicon Pore Optics (SPO) grazing-angle imagers, called mirror modules. Arranged in concentric annuli and following a Wolter-Schwartzschild design, the mirror modules are made of several tens of primary-secondary mirror pairs, each mirror made of silicon, coated to increase the collective area of the system, and shaped to bring the incoming photons to a common focus in 12 m distance. The mission aims to deliver an angular resolution of better than nine arc-seconds (Half-energy width) and effective area of about 1.1 m2 at an energy of 1 keV. We present in this paper the status of the optics production and illustrate not only recent x-ray results but also the progress made on the environmental testing, manufacturing and assembly aspects of SPO based optics.

Key concepts: Silicon, X-ray optics, Optics, Resolution (logic), Materials science, Optoelectronics, Physics, X-ray

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