Dervis Vernani

Glass mirrors by cold slumping to cover 100 m2 of the MAGIC II Cherenkov telescope reflecting surface

We report on the production and implementation of 100 square panels 1 m x 1 m, based on the innovative approach of cold slumping of thin glass sheets. The more than 100 segments will cover around one half of the 240 m-square reflecting surface of the MAGIC II, a clone of the atmospheric Cherenkov telescope MAGIC I (with a single-dish 17 m diameter mirror) which is already operating since late 2003 at La Palma. The MAGIC II telescope will be completed by the end of 2008 and will operate in stereoscopic mode with MAGIC I. While the central part of the of the reflector is composed of by diamond milled Aluminum of 1m2 area panels (following a design similar to that already used for MAGIC I), the outer coronas will be made of sandwiched glass segments. The glass panel production foresees the following steps: a) a thin glass sheet (1-2mm) is elastically deformed so as to retain the shape imparted by a master with convex profile - the radius of curvature is large, the sheet can be pressed against the master using vacuum suction -; b) on the deformed glass sheet a honeycomb structure that provides the needed rigidity is glued ; c) then a second glass sheet is glued on the top in order to obtain a sandwich; d) after on the concave side a reflecting coating (Aluminum) and a thin protective coating (Quartz) are deposited. The typical weight of each panel is about 12 kg and its resolution is better than 1 mrad at a level of diameter that contains the 90% of the energy reflected by the mirror; the areal cost of glass panels is ~2 k per 1m2. The technology based on cold slumping is a good candidate for the production of the primary mirrors of the telescopes forming the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA), the future large TeV observatory currently being studied in Europe. Details on the realization of MAGIC II new mirrors based on cold slumping glass will be presented.

Design and development of the optics system for the NHXM Hard X-ray and Polarimetric Mission

The New Hard X-ray Mission (NHXM) Italian project will be operated by 2016. It is based on 4 hard X-ray optics modules, each formed by 60 evenly spaced multilayer coated Wolter I mirror shells. For the achievement of a long focal length (10 m) an extensible bench is used. The pseudo-cylindrical Wolter I monolithic substrates where the multilayer coating is applied will be produced using the Ni electroforming replica approach. For three of the four mirror modules the focal plane will host a hybrid a detector system, consisting in the combination of a Si-based low energy detector (efficient from 0.5 up to ~ 15 keV) , on top of a high energy CdTe pixellated detector (efficient from 10 keV up to ~ 80 keV); the two cameras will be surrounded by both a passive shield and an anticoincidence shield. The total on axis effective area of the three telescopes at 1 keV and at 30 kev is of 1500 cm2 and 350 cm2 respectively. The angular resolution requirement is better than 20 arcsec HEW at 30 keV, while the Field of View at 50% vignetting is 12 arcmin (diameter). The payload is finally completed with the fourth telescope module, that will have as a focal plane detector a high sensitivity imaging photoelectric polarimetric system, operating from 2 up to 35 keV. In this paper, after an overview of the mission configuration and its scientific goals, we report on the design and development of the multilayer optics of the mission, based on thin replicated Ni mirror shells.

Development of cold-slumping glass mirrors for imaging Cherenkov telescopes

The development of lightweight glass mirrors manufactured via cold-slumping technique for Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescope is presented. The mirror elements have a sandwich-like structure where the reflecting and backing facets are composed by glass sheets with an interposed honeycomb aluminum core. The reflecting coating is deposited in high vacuum by means of physical vapor deposition and consists of aluminum with an additional protective layer of SiO2. The mirror fabrication and environmental qualification by accelerated ageing, thermal cycling and coating adhesion are presented together with the optical performances measured as angular resolution and reflectivity obtained on spherical, 1 squared meter mirror prototypes.

Multilayer coatings for x-ray mirrors: extraction of stack parameters from x-ray reflectivity scans and comparison with transmission electron microscopy results

The reflectance effectiveness of a multilayer depends strongly on the stack properties thickness, roughness, and density of each layer and can be directly tested by means of x-ray reflectivity scans at definite photon energies. The reflectivity curves are also a pow- erful tool for the in-depth, nondestructive characterization of the stack structure: The complex task of extracting the stack parameters from re- flectivity curves can be achieved via a suitable best-fitting computer code based on a global automatic optimization procedure. We present the computer-assisted layer-by-layer analysis of the characteristics of Ni/C, Pt/C, and W/Si multilayers, based on x-ray reflectivity scans performed at 8.05 and 17.45 keV. In order to verify the correctness of the code predictions, we present also a comparison of the computer model with the transmission electron microscope profiles of the same multilayer samples.

Manufacturing of lightweight glass segments for adaptive optics

The next generation of large telescopes now on the drawing boards (30-100 m. diam) will need adaptive optics to deliver their full potential. Today the thin glass meniscus necessaries for example for the adaptive secondary mirrors are produced by tinning conventional thick mirrors: a technique expensive and time consuming. A cost effective technique for the manufacturing of these components is here proposed that will deliver thin (few mm) lightweight optics made in glass. The technique under investigation foresees the thermal slumping of thin glass segments using a high quality ceramic mold (master). The sheet of glass is placed onto the mold and then, by means of a suitable thermal cycle, the glass is softened and its shape is changed copying the master shape. At the end of the slumping the correction of the remaining errors will be performed using the Ion Beam Figuring technique, a non-contact deterministic technique. To reduce the time spent for the correction it will be necessary to have shape errors on the segments after the slumping as small as possible. To investigate this technique INAF-OAB (Astronomical Observatory of Brera) is building the necessaries facilities, in particular the oven and mold for the slumping and the Ion Beam Figuring system. The paper describes the process of production of the optical segments and the status of the investigation.

Development of multilayer coatings (Ni/C-Pt/C) for hard x-ray telescopes by e-beam evaporation with ion assistance

A number of X-ray astronomical missions of near future (XEUS, Constellation-X, SIMBOL-X, HEXIT-SAT, NEXT) will make use of hard X-ray (10-100 keV) optics with broad-band multilayer coatings. To this aim we are developing a multilayer deposition technique for large substrates based on the e-beam deposition technique, improved by the implementation of an ion beam assistance device, in order to reduce the interfacial roughness and improve the reflectivity. The e-beam deposition with ion assistance keeps the film smoothness at a good level and takes the advantage of a reduction of the interlayer stresses. This approach is well suited for the manufacturing of high-reflectance multilayer mirrors for hard X-rays space telescopes where, in addition to a high quality of the deposited films, a volume production is also requested. Moreover, we are also up-grading the replication technique by nickel electroforming, already successfully used for the gold coated soft X-ray mirrors of Beppo-SAX, XMM, JET-X/SWIFT missions, to the case of multilayer coated mirrors. In this paper we will present the technique under development and the implemented deposition facility. Some preliminary, very encouraging, results achieved with the X-ray (8.05 and 17.4 keV) and topographic characterization on flat samples will be discussed.

The ATHENA telescope and optics status

The work on the definition and technological preparation of the ATHENA (Advanced Telescope for High ENergy Astrophysics) mission continues to progress. In parallel to the study of the accommodation of the telescope, many aspects of the X-ray optics are being evolved further. The optics technology chosen for ATHENA is the Silicon Pore Optics (SPO), which hinges on technology spin-in from the semiconductor industry, and uses a modular approach to produce large effective area lightweight telescope optics with a good angular resolution. Both system studies and the technology developments are guided by ESA and implemented in industry, with participation of institutional partners. In this paper an overview of the current status of the telescope optics accommodation and technology development activities is provided.

The ATHENA Optics Development

ATHENA (Advanced Telescope for High ENergy Astrophysics) is being studied by the European Space Agency (ESA) as the second large science mission, with a launch slot in 2028. System studies and technology preparation activities are on-going. The optics of the telescope is based on the modular Silicon Pore Optics (SPO), a novel X-ray optics technology significantly benefiting from spin-in from the semiconductor industry. Several technology development activities are being implemented by ESA in collaboration with European industry and institutions. The related programmatic background, technology development approach and the associated implementation planning are presented.

Design and development of the SIMBOL-X hard x-ray optics

The SIMBOL-X formation-flight X-ray mission will be operated by ASI and CNES in 2014, with a large participation of the French and Italian high energy astrophysics scientific community. Also German and US Institutions are contributing in the implementation of the scientific payload. Thanks to the formation-flight architecture, it will be possible to operate a long (20 m) focal length grazing incidence mirror module, formed by 100 confocal multilayer-coated Wolter I shells. This system will allow us to focus X-rays over a very broad energy band, from 0.5 keV up to 80 keV and beyond, with more than two orders of magnitude improvement in angular resolution (20 arcsec HEW) and sensitivity (0.5 µCrab on axis @30 keV) compared to non focusing detectors used so far. The X-ray mirrors will be realized by Ni electroforming replication, already successfully used for BeppoSAX, XMM-Newton, and JET-X/SWIFT; the thickness trend will be about two times less than for XMM, in order to save mass. Multilayer reflecting coatings will be implemented, in order to improve the reflectivity beyond 10 keV and to increase the field of view 812 arcmin at 30 keV). In this paper, the SIMBOL-X optics design, technology and implementation challenges will be discussed; it will be also reported on recent results obtained in the context of the SIMBOL-X optics development activities.

The optics system of the New Hard X-ray Mission: status report

The New Hard X-ray Mission (NHXM) is a space X-ray telescope project focused on the 0.2 to 80 keV energy band, coupled to good imaging, spectroscopic and polarimetry detectors. The mission is currently undergoing the Phase B study and it has been proposed to ESA as a small-size mission to be further studied in the context of the M3 call; even if the mission was not downselected for this call, its study is being continued by ASI. The required performance is reached with a focal length of 10 m and with four mirror modules, each of them composed of 70 NiCo electroformed mirror shells. The reflecting coating is a broadband graded multilayer film, and the focal plane is mounted onto an extensible bench. Three of the four modules are equipped with a camera made of two detectors positioned in series, a Silicon low energy detector covering the range 0.2 to 15 keV and a high energy detector based on CdTe sensitive from 10 keV up to 120 keV. The fourth module is dedicated to the polarimetry to be performed with enhanced imaging capabilities. In this paper the latest development in the design and manufacturing of the optics is presented. The design has been optimized in order to increase as much as possible the effective area in the high-energy band. The manufacturing of the mirror shells benefits from the latest development in the mandrel production (figuring and polishing), in the multilayer deposition and in the integration improvements.