Development of high angular resolution x-ray telescopes based on slumped glass foils

Abstract

The mirrors of the International X-ray Observatory (IXO) were based on a large number of high quality segments, aiming at achieving a global spatial resolution better than 5” HEW while giving a large collecting area (around 3m 2 @ 1 keV). A study concerning the hot slumping of thin glass foils was started in Europe, funded by ESA and led by the Brera Astronomical Observatory (INAF-OAB), for the development of a replication technology based on glass material. The study is currently continuing even after the IXO program has been descoped and renamed ATHENA, in the perspective of using the technology under development for other future missions or applications. INAF-OAB efforts have been focused on the Direct slumping approach with convex moulds, meaning that during the thermal cycle the optical surface of the glass is in direct contact with the mould surface. The single mirror segments are made of thin glass plates (0.4 mm thick), with a reflecting area of 200 mm × 200 mm. The adopted integration process foresees the use of glass reinforcing ribs for bonding together the plates in such a way to form a rigid and stiff stack of segmented mirror shells; the stack is supported by a thick backplane. During the bonding process, the plates are constrained in close contact with the surface of a precisely figured integration master by the application of vacuum pump suction. In this way, the springback deformations and the low frequency errors still present in the plates' profile after slumping can be corrected. The status of the technology development is presented in this paper, together with the description and metrology of the prototypes already realized or under construction at the Observatory laboratories.