Ray-tracing critical-angle transmission gratings for the X-ray Surveyor and Explorer-size missions
We study a critical angle transmission (CAT) grating spectrograph that delivers a spectral resolution significantly above any X-ray spectrograph ever own. This new technology will allow us to resolve kinematic components in absorption and emission lines of galactic and extragalactic matter down to u...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
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SPIE, the International Society of Optical Engineering
2018
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/116360 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1379-4482 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9980-5295 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6492-1293 |
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| author | Günther, Hans M. Heilmann, Ralf K Marshall, Herman Bautz, Marshall W. Huenemoerder, David P. Nowak, Michael A. Schulz, Norbert S. |
| author2 | MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research |
| author_facet | MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research Günther, Hans M. Heilmann, Ralf K Marshall, Herman Bautz, Marshall W. Huenemoerder, David P. Nowak, Michael A. Schulz, Norbert S. |
| author_sort | Günther, Hans M. |
| collection | MIT |
| description | We study a critical angle transmission (CAT) grating spectrograph that delivers a spectral resolution significantly above any X-ray spectrograph ever own. This new technology will allow us to resolve kinematic components in absorption and emission lines of galactic and extragalactic matter down to unprecedented dispersion levels. We perform ray-trace simulations to characterize the performance of the spectrograph in the context of an X-ray Surveyor or Arcus like layout (two mission concepts currently under study). Our newly developed ray-trace code is a tool suite to simulate the performance of X-ray observatories. The simulator code is written in Python, because the use of a high-level scripting language allows modifications of the simulated instrument design in very few lines of code. This is especially important in the early phase of mission development, when the performances of different configurations are contrasted. To reduce the run-time and allow for simulations of a few million photons in a few minutes on a desktop computer, the simulator code uses tabulated input (from theoretical models or laboratory measurements of samples) for grating efficiencies and mirror reflectivities. We find that the grating facet alignment tolerances to maintain at least 90% of resolving power that the spectrometer has with perfect alignment are (i) translation parallel to the optical axis below 0.5 mm, (ii) rotation around the optical axis or the groove direction below a few arcminutes, and (iii) constancy of the grating period to 1:10 5 . Translations along and rotations around the remaining axes can be significantly larger than this without impacting the performance. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T13:51:47Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/116360 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T13:51:47Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publisher | SPIE, the International Society of Optical Engineering |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1163602022-10-01T17:35:20Z Ray-tracing critical-angle transmission gratings for the X-ray Surveyor and Explorer-size missions Günther, Hans M. Heilmann, Ralf K Marshall, Herman Bautz, Marshall W. Huenemoerder, David P. Nowak, Michael A. Schulz, Norbert S. MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research Bautz, Marshall W Heilmann, Ralf K Huenemoerder, David P Marshall, Herman Nowak, Michael A Schulz, Norbert S ray-tracing, X-ray optics, critical angle transmission grating, X-ray Surveyor, Arcus We study a critical angle transmission (CAT) grating spectrograph that delivers a spectral resolution significantly above any X-ray spectrograph ever own. This new technology will allow us to resolve kinematic components in absorption and emission lines of galactic and extragalactic matter down to unprecedented dispersion levels. We perform ray-trace simulations to characterize the performance of the spectrograph in the context of an X-ray Surveyor or Arcus like layout (two mission concepts currently under study). Our newly developed ray-trace code is a tool suite to simulate the performance of X-ray observatories. The simulator code is written in Python, because the use of a high-level scripting language allows modifications of the simulated instrument design in very few lines of code. This is especially important in the early phase of mission development, when the performances of different configurations are contrasted. To reduce the run-time and allow for simulations of a few million photons in a few minutes on a desktop computer, the simulator code uses tabulated input (from theoretical models or laboratory measurements of samples) for grating efficiencies and mirror reflectivities. We find that the grating facet alignment tolerances to maintain at least 90% of resolving power that the spectrometer has with perfect alignment are (i) translation parallel to the optical axis below 0.5 mm, (ii) rotation around the optical axis or the groove direction below a few arcminutes, and (iii) constancy of the grating period to 1:10 5 . Translations along and rotations around the remaining axes can be significantly larger than this without impacting the performance. United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) contract SV3-73016) United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (contract NAS8-03060) 2018-06-18T16:30:49Z 2018-06-18T16:30:49Z 2016-07 2018-03-16T16:56:35Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/ConferencePaper 0277-786X http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/116360 Günther, Hans M., Marshall W. Bautz, Ralf K. Heilmann, David P. Huenemoerder, Herman L. Marshall, Michael A. Nowak, and Norbert S. Schulz. “Ray-Tracing Critical-Angle Transmission Gratings for the X-Ray Surveyor and Explorer-Size Missions.” Edited by Jan-Willem A. den Herder, Tadayuki Takahashi, and Marshall Bautz. Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2016: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray (July 18, 2016). https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1379-4482 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9980-5295 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6492-1293 http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/12.2232157 Proceedings of SPIE--the Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf SPIE, the International Society of Optical Engineering SPIE |
| spellingShingle | ray-tracing, X-ray optics, critical angle transmission grating, X-ray Surveyor, Arcus Günther, Hans M. Heilmann, Ralf K Marshall, Herman Bautz, Marshall W. Huenemoerder, David P. Nowak, Michael A. Schulz, Norbert S. Ray-tracing critical-angle transmission gratings for the X-ray Surveyor and Explorer-size missions |
| title | Ray-tracing critical-angle transmission gratings for the X-ray Surveyor and Explorer-size missions |
| title_full | Ray-tracing critical-angle transmission gratings for the X-ray Surveyor and Explorer-size missions |
| title_fullStr | Ray-tracing critical-angle transmission gratings for the X-ray Surveyor and Explorer-size missions |
| title_full_unstemmed | Ray-tracing critical-angle transmission gratings for the X-ray Surveyor and Explorer-size missions |
| title_short | Ray-tracing critical-angle transmission gratings for the X-ray Surveyor and Explorer-size missions |
| title_sort | ray tracing critical angle transmission gratings for the x ray surveyor and explorer size missions |
| topic | ray-tracing, X-ray optics, critical angle transmission grating, X-ray Surveyor, Arcus |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/116360 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1379-4482 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9980-5295 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6492-1293 |
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