Hard X-ray/soft gamma-ray telescope designs for future astrophysics missions

We present several concept designs of hard X-ray/soft λ-ray focusing telescopes for future astrophysics missions. The designs are based on depth graded multilayer coatings. These have been successfully employed on the NuSTAR mission for energies up to 80 keV. Recent advances in demonstrating theoretical reflectivities for candidate multilayer material combinations up to 400 keV including effects of incoherent scatter has given an experimental base for extending this type of designs to the soft λ-ray range. At the same time, the calibration of the in-flight performance of the NuSTAR mission has given a solid understanding and modelling of the relevant effects influencing the performance, including optical constants, roughness, scatter, non-uniformities and figure error. This allows for a realistic extension for designs going to much higher energies. Similarly, both thin slumped glass and silicon pore optics has been developed to a prototype stage which promises imaging resolution in the sub 10 arcsecond range. We present designs based on a 20 m and 50 m focal lengths with energy ranges up to 200 keV and 600 keV. © (2013) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.