Peter K. Frederiksen

X-ray calibration of the SODART flight telescopes

The on- and off-axis imaging properties and effective area of the two SODART flight telescopes have been measured using the expanded beam x-ray facility at the Daresbury synchrotron. From on-axis measurements the encircled power distribution and the point spread function at three energies 6.627 keV, 8.837 keV and 11.046 keV have been measured using a one-dimensional position sensitive detector. We found that the point spread function can be presented well by a function which is a sum of a Gaussian divided by the radius and two exponential terms where the first has a 1/e value close to 2 arcmin and the other a 1/e value of ca. 15 arcmin. The data have been used to calculate the half power diameter (HPD) for three different SODART focal plane detectors, the high energy proportional counter (HEPC) with a field of view (FOV) of 65 arcmin, the low energy proportional counter (LEPC) with a FOV of 33 arcmin and the 19 element solid state detector array (SIXA) with a FOV of 18 arcmin. We found that the HPD decreases with increasing energy due to poorer figure of the outermost mirrors. The HPD falls in the range from 2.4 to 3.8 arcmin depending on energy and FOV. Data have also been obtained on the on- and off-axis effective area at all three energies and compared to that obtained from a raytracing of an ideal telescope configuration. We found that the measured on-axis effective area integrated over a FOV of 105 arcmin is ca. 65% of the area predicted from an ideal geometry. Finally the one- dimensional detector data has been used to obtain the radial dependence of the on-axis HPD and the on-axis effective area and the data from the two-dimensional position sensitive detector has been used to obtain the azimuthal dependence of the on-axis HPD and the on-axis effective area.

Multilayer x-ray mirrors for the objective crystal spectrometer on the Spectrum Roentgen Gamma satellite

We carried out experiments to determine the optimum parameters for the production of multilayer x-ray mirrors for the lambda equals 4.4 - 7.1 nm range using electron beam evaporation and ion-polishing. We report on the deposition of Co/C and Ni/C coatings, of which we polished the metal layers with Kr+- and Ar+- ions of 300, 500, and 1000 eV. We examined the effect of different polishing parameters on the smoothening of the Co- and Ni-layers. The in-situ reflectivity of lambda equals 3.16 nm during deposition and the ex-situ grazing incidence reflectivity of Cu-K(alpha ) radiation (lambda equals 0.154 nm) were used to analyze the coatings. We found optimum performance of the mirrors when applying polishing for 40 s with 500 eV Kr+-ions at an angle of 20 degrees and an ion beam current of 20 mA. Using these parameters, we produced Co/C multilayer coatings on forty flat super-polished 6 multiplied by 6 cm2 Si (111) crystals for the Objective Crystal Spectrometer on the Russian Spectrum Rontgen Gamma satellite. The coatings on the flight crystals have a period Lambda of 3.95 plus or minus 0.02 nm and a reflectivity of more than 8% averaged over s- and p-polarization over the entire wavelength range of interest. We present a detailed analysis of the coatings on the crystals.

Expanded beam x-ray optics calibration facility at the Daresbury Synchrotron

A facility for the calibration of X-ray Space Instrumentation has been established for the Daresbury Synchrotron. The facility provides a continuously tunable beam with (Delta) (lambda) /(lambda) <EQ 10-4 in the energy range from approximately 5 kev to more than 20 kev. At selected energies in the interval from 6 kev to 12 kev, the facility features a 1D sheet of X-rays, approximately 200 mm wide, obtained from an extremely asymmetric reflection in large perfect crystals of Si. The beam is collimated to < 20 arcsec. Data from tests using large (approximately 250 mm long) beam expander crystals in the energy range from 6 - 12 kev are presented. The planned calibration of the two X-ray telescopes (XSPECT/SODART and JET-X) will be described.

A beam expander facility for studying x‐ray optics

The detailed study of the performance of full scale x‐ray optics often requires the illumination of large areas. This paper describes a beam expander facility at the Daresbury Synchrotron Radiation Facility. It combines monochromatization and beam expansion in one dimension. The beam expansion is obtained from an extremely asymmetric reflection in a large single crystal of Si. An expansion of a factor of 50 was obtained in one dimension. The expanded beam of ∼85 mm is limited only by the crystal size. The facility is installed in a 12‐m‐long hutch. A specific application, in which a high throughput x‐ray telescope will be studied, is described in detail.

Studies of multilayers and thin-foil X-ray mirrors using a soft X-ray diffractometer

A versatile x-ray diffractometer is described in detail. Two applications to the study of x-ray optical elements are presented. The first is a Bragg reflection study of state-of-the-art multilayers deposited both on conventional Si-wafer substrates and on superpolished substrates such as fused quartz and electroless nickel. These data are compared to data previously obtained at FeKα. The second study is a reflectivity and scattering study of various thin-foil x-ray reflectors proposed for up-coming x-ray satellite missions. All the data have been obtained at MgKα = 1.2536 keV.

SODART optical block of the SRG satellite: design and integration

This paper describes the design and the successful integration of the optical block of the SODART telescopes to be flown on the Spectrum Roentgen Gamma satellite. The integration involves both the integration of the two high throughput x-ray telescopes as well as the objective crystal spectrometer. The integrated unit meets all mechanical, thermal and optical specifications and it is now in safe storage in Moscow and awaits further integration procedures with the remaining satellite structure.

X-ray study of a SODART flight telescope using the expanded beam x-ray optics beamline at the Daresbury synchrotron

The on- and off-axis imaging properties of the first of two SODART flight telescopes have been studied using the expanded beam x-ray facility at the Daresbury synchrotron. From on- axis measurements the encircled power distribution and the point spread function at three energies 6.627 keV, 8.837 keV, and 11.046 keV have been measured using a one dimensional position sensitive detector. The data have been used to calculate the half power diameter (HPD) for three different SODART focal plane detectors, the high energy proportional counter (HEPC), the low energy proportional counter (LEPC) and the 19 element solid state array detector (SIXA). We found that the HPD decreases with increasing energy due to poorer figure error of the outermost mirrors. The HPD falls in the range from 2.3 to 3 arcmin for all detectors. Residual misalignment of the individual quadrants of the telescope was found to contribute to the HPD by approximately 10%. If 33% of the geometric telescope area near the edges of the quadrants are covered a reduction of 10% of the HPD can be obtained. On- and off-axis images generated from the one dimensional intensity distribution are presented. Finally the data have been used to calculate the variation of the effective area versus the off- axis angle.

High energy x-ray reflectivity and scattering study from spectrum-x-gamma flight mirrors

Line radiation from Fe K-alpha(1), Cu K-alpha(1), and Ag K-alpha(1) is used to study the high energy X-ray reflectivity and scattering behavior of flight-quality X-ray mirrors having various Al substrates. When both the specular and the scattered radiation are integrated, near theoretical reflectivities are found for all mirrors. Results of scattering studies show that scattering is strongly correlated with the Al foil type. Mirrors based on new 0.4 mm Al foil are found to have a typical scattering FWHM of about 1.1 arcmin, whereas mirrors based on 0.3 mm Al foil have an FWHM of greater than 1.5 arcmin. For all mirrors and for all energies, the scattering is found to exhibit the characteristic asymmetries predicted by a first order vector scattering theory.

Calibration and modeling of the SODART-OXS Bragg spectrometer on board the SRG satellite

The SODART x-ray telescope includes an objective crystal spectrometer (OXS) providing a high energy resolving power by Bragg reflection upon crystals. To cover a wide energy range, 3 types of natural crystals, and a Co/C multilayer structure upon Si are used in the ranges 5-11 keV, 2-5 keV, 0.5-1.2 keV, and 0.16-0.42 keV. All types of crystal besides Si being an ideal crystal have been calibrated individually and after gluing onto the Bragg panel. The x-ray calibration procedures and result are discussed below. A ray-tracing program using the OXS calibration data and simulating the x- ray photon reflection on the mentioned crystals and the multilayers has been developed and is described also.

X-ray study of a test quadrant of the SODART telescopes using the expanded beam x-ray optics facility at the Daresbury synchrotron

The imaging properties of a test model of the SODART telescopes have been studied using an expanded beam X-ray facility at the Daresbury synchrotron. The encircled power and the point spread function at three energies 6.627 keV, 8.837 keV and 11.046 keV have been measured using 1D and 2D position sensitive detectors. The data have been used to calculate the Half Power Diameter (HPD) for three different SODART focal plane detectors. The High Energy Proportional Counter (HEPC), the Low Energy Proportional Counter (LEPC) and the 19 element solid state array detector (SIXA). At 6.627 keV and 8.837 keV the HPD is 2.5 - 3.0 arcmin for all detectors whereas it is somewhat larger at 11.046 keV for HEPC and LEPC but essentially unchanged for SIXA. Finally, the data are used to point to improvements that can be introduced during the manufacture of the flight telescopes.