Related papers: Optical design of diffraction-limited X-ray telesc…
The imaging performance and sensitivity of an X-ray telescope when observing astrophysical sources are primarily governed by the optical design, geometrical uncertainties (figure errors, surface roughness, and mirror alignment…
X-ray mirrors are usually built in the Wolter I (paraboloid-hyperboloid) configuration. This design exhibits no spherical aberration on-axis but suffers from field curvature, coma and astigmatism, therefore the angular resolution degrades…
Grazing incidence mirrors for X-ray astronomy are usually designed in the parabola-hyperbola (Wolter I) configuration. This design allows for optimal images on-axis, which however degrade rapidly with the off-axis angle. Mirror surfaces…
The realization of X-ray telescopes with imaging capabilities in the hard (> 10 keV) X-ray band requires the adoption of optics with shallow (< 0.25 deg) grazing angles to enhance the reflectivity of reflective coatings. On the other hand,…
We present a concept of the X-ray imaging system with high angular-resolution and moderate sensitivity. In this concept, a two-dimensional detector, i.e., imager, is put at a slightly out-of-focused position of the focusing mirror, rather…
Future NASA X-ray spectroscopy missions will require high throughput, high resolution grating spectrometers. Off-plane reflection gratings are capable of meeting the performance requirements needed to realize the scientific goals of these…
Future NASA X-ray Observatories will shed light on a variety of high-energy astrophysical phenomena. Off-plane reflection gratings can be used to provide high throughput and spectral resolution in the 0.3--1.5 keV band, allowing for…
Optical modules for X-ray telescopes comprise several double-reflection mirrors operating in grazing incidence. The concentration power of an optical module, which determines primarily the telescope's sensitivity, is in general expressed by…
The optics of a number of future X-ray telescopes will have very long focal lengths (10 - 20 m), and will consist of a number of nested/stacked thin, grazing-incidence mirrors. The optical quality characterization of a real mirror can be…
Interferometry provides one of the possible routes to ultra-high angular resolution for X-ray and gamma-ray astronomy. Sub-micro-arc-second angular resolution, necessary to achieve objectives such as imaging the regions around the event…
We report on a new x-ray imaging method, which combines the high spatial resolution of coherent diffraction imaging with the ability of dark field microscopy to map grains within thick polycrystalline specimens. An x-ray objective serves to…
The Arcus Probe mission concept has been submitted as an Astrophysics Probe Explorer candidate. It features two co-aligned high-resolution grating spectrometers: one for the soft x-ray band and one for the far UV. Together, these…
Focusing mirrors for X-ray telescopes in grazing incidence, introduced in the 70s, are characterized in terms of their performance by their imaging quality and effective area, which in turn determines their sensitivity. Even though the…
We describe a diffraction microscopy technique based on refractive optics to study structural variations in crystals. The X-ray beam diffracted by a crystal was magnified by beryllium parabolic refractive lenses on a 2D X-ray camera. The…
The imaging sharpness of an X-ray telescope is chiefly determined by the optical quality of its focusing optics, which in turn mostly depends on the shape accuracy and the surface finishing of the grazing-incidence X-ray mirrors that…
X-ray diffraction gratings play an essential role in high-resolution spectroscopy of astrophysical phenomena. We present some scientific highlights from the X-ray grating spectrometers (XGS) on board of the Chandra and XMM/Newton missions,…
Measuring the diffuse, highly-ionized baryonic content in galactic halos and the intergalactic medium through soft x-ray absorption spectroscopy of active galactic nuclei is a main scientific objective of the Lynx X-ray Observatory mission…
This paper discusses the broad science case for obtaining milliarcsecond to microarcsecond astronomical imaging resolution in the soft to medium-energy X-ray band (~0.5 to ~8 keV). Astronomy across much of the electromagnetic spectrum has…
Dynamical diffraction effects always play a role when working with perfect single crystals. The penetration of X-rays respect to the surface normal during diffraction (extinction depth, $1/\sigma_e$) in perfect single crystals does not have…
We present measurements of the resolving power of a soft x-ray spectrometer consisting of 200 nm-period lightweight, alignment-insensitive critical-angle transmission (CAT) gratings and a lightweight slumped-glass Wolter-I focusing mirror…