MASSIM, the Milli-Arc-Second Structure Imager (original) (raw)
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Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2008: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray, 2008
MASSIM, the Milli-Arc-Second Structure Imager, is a mission that has been proposed for study within the context of NASA's Astrophysics Strategic Mission Concept Studies program. It uses a set of achromatic diffractiverefractive Fresnel lenses on an optics spacecraft to focus 5-11 keV X-rays onto detectors on a second spacecraft flying in formation 1000 km away. It will have a point-source sensitivity comparable with that of the current generation of major X-ray observatories (Chandra, XMM-Newton) but an angular resolution some three orders of magnitude better. MASSIM is optimized for the study of jets and other phenomena that occur in the immediate vicinity of black holes and neutron stars. It can also be used for studying other astrophysical phenomena on the milli-arc-second scale, such as those involving proto-stars, the surfaces and surroundings of nearby active stars and interacting winds.
Active x-ray optics for high resolution space telescopes
2017
The Smart X-ray Optics (SXO) Basic Technology project started in April 2006 and will end in October 2010. The aim is to develop new technologies in the field of X-ray focusing, in particular the application of active and adaptive optics. While very major advances have been made in active/adaptive astronomical optics for visible light, little was previously achieved for X-ray optics where the technological challenges differ because of the much shorter wavelengths involved. The field of X-ray astronomy has been characterized by the development and launch of ever larger observatories with the culmination in the European Space Agency’s XMM-Newton and NASA's Chandra missions which are currently operational. XMM-Newton uses a multi-nested structure to provide modest angular resolution (∼10 arcsec) but large effective area, while Chandra sacrifices effective area to achieve the optical stability necessary to provide sub-arc second resolution. Currently the European Space Agency (ESA) i...
Phase Fresnel Lens Development for X-ray and Gamma-ray Astronomy
In principle, diffractive optics, particularly Phase Fresnel Lenses (PFLs), offer the ability to construct large, diffraction-limited, and highly efficient X-ray/γ-ray telescopes, leading to dramatic improvement in angular resolution and photon flux sensitivity. As the diffraction limit improves with increasing photon energy, gamma-ray astronomy would offer the best angular resolution over the entire electromagnetic spectrum. A major improvement in source sensitivity would be achieved if meter-size PFLs can be constructed, as the entire area of these optics focuses photons. We have fabricated small, prototype PFLs using Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) fabrication techniques at the University of Maryland and measured near diffraction-limited performance with high efficiency using 8 keV and higher energy X-rays at the GSFC 600-meter Interferometry Testbed. A first generation, 8 keV PFL has demonstrated imaging corresponding to an angular resolution of approximately 20 milliarcseconds with an efficiency ∼70% of the theoretical expectation. The results demonstrate the superior imaging potential in the X-ray/γ-ray energy band for PFL-based optics in a format that is scalable for astronomical instrumentation. Based upon this PFL development, we have also fabricated a 'proof-ofprinciple' refractive-diffractive achromat and initial measurements have demonstrated nearly uniform imaging performance over a large energy range. These results indicate that the chromaticity inherent in diffractive optics can be alleviated.
A stacked prism lens concept for next-generation hard X-ray telescopes
Nature Astronomy, 2019
Effective collecting area, angular resolution, field of view and energy response are fundamental attributes of X-ray telescopes. The performance of state-of-the-art telescopes is currently restricted by Wolter optics, especially for hard X-rays. In this paper, we report the development of a new approach-the Stacked Prism Lens, which is lightweight, modular and has the potential for a significant improvement in effective area, while retaining high angular resolution. The proposed optics is built by stacking discs embedded with prismatic rings, created with photoresist by focused UV lithography. We demonstrate the SPL approach using a prototype lens which was manufactured and characterized at a synchrotron radiation facility. The design of a potential satellite-borne X-ray telescope is outlined and the performance is compared to contemporary missions. Since the first orbiting X-ray telescope, the Einstein Observatory, was launched in 1978, focusing X-ray telescopes (XRTs) have provided new knowledge on the universe by observing remote objects in the X-ray spectrum 1, 2. The performance of XRTs is mainly determined by the optics. State-of-the-art focusing XRTs rely on Wolter optics, for which X-rays that are nearly parallel to the nested mirrors are collected by total external reflection. This has been successfully employed in several telescopes (e.g. Chandra 3 , XMM-Newton 4 , Swift 5 and the planned ATHENA mission 6), for X-rays in the energy range of 0.1 to 10 keV with high values of efficiency, angular resolution and sensitivity. However, for X-ray energies higher than 10 keV, using the same technique compromises spatial resolution and efficiency since the grazing angle quickly decreases with energy, making the focal length of the system impractically long and the field of view (FoV) very small. Moreover, the efficiency of the mirrors decreases, and nesting becomes more difficult. To mitigate this issue, it is possible to use multi-layered coatings and Bragg-reflection from depthgraded multi-layers to increase the grazing angle in the hard X-ray energy range 7, 8. Current hard X-ray focusing telescopes such as NuSTAR 9 and Astro-H 10, 11 are designed this way. Although this provides a significant improvement in performance for hard X-rays, the long focal length is challenging when designing missions, and the small effective collecting area and narrow FoV limits the scientific return from missions. In addition, the angular resolution is severely influenced by 1
2003
Two major technological goals to be achieved in near future in the field of X-ray astronomy are: i) the realization of soft X-ray (0.1 - 10 keV) optics with collecting areas much larger than those permitted for the main current X-ray telescopes (e.g. XMM-Newton and Chandra), and ii) the realization of focusing telescopes based on multilayer coated mirrors for the hard X-ray energy band (10 - 100 keV). In both cases an important parameter to be considered is the angular resolution, that has to be as good as possible in order to avoid problems of source confusion, improve the flux sensitivity and make possible the investigation of details in extended sources. At the Brera Astronomical Observatory - INAF activities devoted to the development of the soft and hard X-ray optics for future missions are presently on-going. In this paper the undertaken technological approaches and some of the main results achieved until now are reviewed.
The MPE X-ray test facility PANTER: Calibration of hard X-ray (15–50 kev) optics
Experimental Astronomy, 2006
The Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik (MPE) in Garching, Germany, uses its large X-ray beam line facility PANTER for testing X-ray astronomical instrumentation. A number of telescopes, gratings, filters, and detectors, e.g. for astronomical satellite missions like Exosat, ROSAT, Chandra (LETG), BeppoSAX, SOHO (CDS), XMM-Newton, ABRIXAS, Swift (XRT), have been successfully calibrated in the soft X-ray energy range (<15keV). Moreover, measurements with mirror test samples for new missions like ROSITA and XEUS have been carried out at PANTER. Here we report on an extension of the energy range, enabling calibrations of hard X-ray optics over the energy range 15-50 keV. Several future X-ray astronomy missions (e.g., Simbol-X, Constellation-X, XEUS) have been proposed, which make use of hard X-ray optics based on multilayer coatings. Such optics are currently being developed by the Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera (OAB), Milano, Italy, and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA), Cambridge, MA, USA. These optics have been tested at the PANTER facility with a broad energy band beam (up to 50 keV) using the XMM-Newton EPIC-pn flight spare CCD camera with its good intrinsic energy resolution, and also with monochromatic X-rays between C-K (0.277 keV) and Cu-Kα (8.04 keV).
AHEAD joint research activity on x-ray optics
2018
The progress of X-ray Optics joint research activity of the European Union Horizon 2020 AHEAD project is presented here covering the X-ray optic technologies that are currently being worked on in Europe. These are the Kirkpatrick Baez, lobster eye micropore (SVOM, SMILE), slumped glass, and silicon pore (ATHENA, ARCUS) optics technologies. In this activity detailed comparisons of the measurements, of the different optics produced by the participating optics groups, obtained mainly at the MPEs PANTER X-ray test facility, are compared with simulations. In preparation for the ATHENA mission a study has been made to design the BEaTRiX X-ray test facility for testing individual silicon pore optics mirror modules, and the realization of the facility is now on going. A zone plate collimating optics developed for PANTER is being studied, optimized, and tested at PANTER. This zone plate will be used for characterising a high quality optics module in a parallel beam to verify the BEaTriX perf...