The development of the mirror for the Athena x-ray mission

Maximilien J. Collon*, Luis Abalo, Nicolas M. Barrière, Alex Bayerle, Luigi Castiglione, Noë Eenkhoorn, David Girou, Ramses Günther, Enrico Hauser, Roy Van Der Hoeven, Jasper Den Hollander, Yvette Jenkins, Boris Landgraf, Laurens Keek, Ben Okma, Paulo Da Silva Ribeiro, Chris Rizzos, Aniket Thete, Giuseppe Vacanti, Sjoerd VerhoeckxMark Vervest, Roel Visser, Luc Voruz, Marcos Bavdaz, Eric Wille, Ivo Ferreira, Mark Olde Riekerink, Jeroen Haneveld, Arenda Koelewijn, Maurice Wijnperle, Jan Joost Lankwarden, Bart Schurink, Ronald Start, Coen Van Baren, Jan Willem Den Herder, Evelyn Handick, Michael Krumrey, Vadim Burwitz, Sonny Massahi, Desiree Della Monica Ferreira, Sara Svendsen, Finn E. Christensen, William Mundon, Gavin Phillips

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingArticle in proceedingsResearchpeer-review

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Abstract

Athena is the European Space Agency's next flagship x-ray telescope, scheduled for launch in the 2030s. Its 2.5-m diameter mirror will be segmented and comprise more than 600 individual Silicon Pore Optics (SPO) grazing-incidence-angle imagers, called mirror modules. Arranged in concentric annuli and following a Wolter-Schwartzschild design, the mirror modules are made of several tens of primary-secondary mirror pairs, each mirror made of mono-crystalline silicon, coated to increase the collective area of the system, and shaped to bring the incoming photons to a common focus 12 m away. Aiming to deliver a half-energy width of 5", and an effective area of about 1.4 m2 at 1 keV, the Athena mirror requires several hundred m2 of super-polished surfaces with a roughness of about 0.3 nm and a thickness of just 110 μm. SPO, using the highest-grade double-side polished 300 mm wafers commercially available, were invented for this purpose and have been consistently developed over the last several years to enable next-generation x-ray telescopes like Athena. SPO makes it possible to manufacture cost-effective, high-resolution, large-area x-ray optics by using all the advantages that mono-crystalline silicon and the mass production processes of the semiconductor industry provide. Ahead of important programmatic milestones for Athena, we present the status of the technology, and illustrate not only recent x-ray results but also the progress made on the environmental testing, manufacturing and assembly aspects of the technology.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of SPIE : Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2022: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray
EditorsJan-Willem A. den Herder, Shouleh Nikzad, Kazuhiro Nakazawa
Number of pages10
Volume12181
PublisherSPIE - International Society for Optical Engineering
Publication date2022
Article number121810U
ISBN (Electronic)9781510653436
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2022
EventSpace Telescopes and Instrumentation 2022: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray - Montréal, Canada
Duration: 17 Jul 202222 Jul 2022
https://spie.org/as/conferencedetails/space-telescopes-and-instrumentation-uv-to-gamma?SSO=1

Conference

ConferenceSpace Telescopes and Instrumentation 2022: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray
Country/TerritoryCanada
CityMontréal
Period17/07/202222/07/2022
Internet address
SeriesProceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
Volume12181
ISSN0277-786X

Keywords

  • ARCUS
  • ATHENA
  • Pore optics
  • Silicon
  • SPO
  • Stack
  • Wafer
  • X-ray astronomy
  • X-ray optics
  • X-ray telescopes

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