Toward large-area sub-arcsecond x-ray telescopes II
In order to advance significantly scientific objectives, future x-ray astronomy missions will likely call for x-ray telescopes with large aperture areas (≈3 m[superscript 2]) and fine angular resolution (≈1[superscript 2 ]). Achieving such performance is programmatically and technologically challe...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
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SPIE
2018
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/116940 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9980-5295 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0154-059X https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6932-2612 |
| Summary: | In order to advance significantly scientific objectives, future x-ray astronomy missions will likely call for x-ray telescopes with large aperture areas (≈3 m[superscript 2]) and fine angular resolution (≈1[superscript 2 ]). Achieving such performance is programmatically and technologically challenging due to the mass and envelope constraints of space-borne telescopes and to the need for densely nested grazing-incidence optics. Such an x-ray telescope will require precision fabrication, alignment, mounting, and assembly of large areas (≈600 m2) of lightweight (≈2 kg/m[superscript 2] areal density) high-quality mirrors, at an acceptable cost (≈1 M$/m[superscript 2] of mirror surface area). This paper reviews relevant programmatic and technological issues, as well as possible approaches for addressing these issues-including direct fabrication of monocrystalline silicon mirrors, active (in-space adjustable) figure correction of replicated mirrors, static post-fabrication correction using ion implantation, differential erosion or deposition, and coating-stress manipulation of thin substrates. |
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