Silicon pore optics for the ATHENA telescope
Abstract
Silicon Pore Optics is a high-energy optics technology, invented to enable the next generation of high-resolution, large area X-ray telescopes such as the ATHENA observatory, a European large (L) class mission with a launch date of 2028. The technology development is carried out by a consortium of industrial and academic partners and focuses on building an optics with a focal length of 12 m that shall achieve an angular resolution better than 5". So far we have built optics with a focal length of 50 m and 20 m. This paper presents details of the work carried out to build silicon stacks for a 12 m optics and to integrate them into mirror modules. It will also present results of x-ray tests taking place at PTB's XPBF with synchrotron radiation and the PANTER test facility.
- Publication:
-
Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2016: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray
- Pub Date:
- July 2016
- DOI:
- 10.1117/12.2234427
- Bibcode:
- 2016SPIE.9905E..28C