A. P. Rasmussen

The Reflection Grating Spectrometer on board XMM-Newton

The ESA X-ray Multi Mirror mission, XMM-Newton, carries two identical Reflection Grating Spectrometers (RGS) behind two of its three nested sets of Wolter I type mirrors. The instrument allows high- resolution (E=E = 100 to 500) measurements in the soft X-ray range (6 to 38 A or 2.1 to 0.3 keV) with a maximum eective area of about 140 cm 2 at 15 A. Its design is optimized for the detection of the K-shell tran- sitions of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, neon, magnesium, and silicon, as well as the L shell transitions of iron. The present paper gives a full description of the design of the RGS and its operational modes. We also review details of the calibrations and in-orbit performance including the line spread function, the wavelength calibration, the eective area, and the instrumental background.

First light measurements with the XMM-Newton reflection grating spectrometers: Evidence for an inverse first ionisation potential effect and anomalous Ne abundance in the Coronae of HR 1099

The RS CVn binary system HR 1099 was extensively observed by the XMM-Newton observatory in February 2000 as its first-light target. A total of 570 ks of exposure time was accumulated with the Reflection Grating Spectrometers (RGS). The integrated X-ray spectrum between 5-38A is of unprecedented quality and shows numerous features attributed to transitions of the elements C, N, O, Ne, Mg, Si, S, Fe. Ni, and probably others. We perform an in-depth study of the elemental composition of the average corona of this system, and find that the elemental abundances strongly depend on the first ionisation potential (FIP) of the elements. But different from the solar coronal case, we find an inverse FIP effect, i.e., the abundances (relative to oxygen) increase with increasing FIP. Possible scenarios, e.g., selective enrichment due to Ne-rich flare-like events, are discussed.

The X-Ray Spectrum of the Supernova Remnant 1E 0102-72.3

In this letter we present the soft X-ray (5-35 A) spectrum of the supernova remnant (SNR) 1E 0102.2-7219 in the Small Magellanic Cloud, acquired by the reflection grating spectrometers (RGS) aboard ESAs XMM-Newton Observatory . Because the RGS features a large dispersion angle, spatial-spectral confusion is suppressed even for moderately extended (

Efficiency of a grazing-incidence off-plane grating in the soft-x-ray region.

Deltatheta sim 2arcmin

High-resolution X-ray spectroscopy and imaging of supernova remnant N132D

) sources. Consequently, these data, along with the spectrum of N132d (Behar et al. [CITE]), provide what are probably the most detailed soft X-ray spectrum of entire SNRs. The diagnostic power of performing spectroscopy using groups of emission lines from single ions is demonstrated. In particular, the bright Lyman and helium series lines for light elements (Cvi, Ovii, Oviii, Neix & Nex) show peculiar ratios, where the values

High fidelity blazed grating replication using nanoimprint lithography

{left[1s-npright]/left[1s-(n+1)pright]}

The interstellar oxygen-K absorption edge as observed by XMM-Newton - Separation of instrumental and interstellar components

are systematically weaker than expected for electron impact excitation close to ionization equilibrium, indicating nonequilibrium ionizing (NEI) conditions in the source. The well known temperature diagnostics

Super-smooth x-ray reflection grating fabrication

{G}left(T_{rm e}right)=(i+f)/r

Performance of the reflection-grating spectrometer CCD detectors onboard XMM-Newton

of helium-like triplets (Ovii & Neix) confirm this suggestion, with values that are inconsistent with ionization equilibrium. The temperatures implied are well above the maximum emission temperature

Off-plane grazing incidence Constellation-X grating calibrations using polarized synchrotron radiation and PCGRATE code calculations

T_mathrm{m}