The development of the  mirror for the Athena x-ray mission

Maximilien J. Collon; Luis Abalo; Nicolas M. Barrière; Alex Bayerle; Luigi Castiglione; Noë Eenkhoorn; David Girou; Ramses Günther; Enrico Hauser; Roy van der Hoeven; Jasper den Hollander; Yvette Jenkins; Boris Landgraf; Laurens Keek; Ben Okma; Paulo da Silva Ribeiro; Chris Rizzos; Aniket Thete; Giuseppe Vacanti; Sjoerd Verhoeckx; Mark Vervest; Roel Visser; Luc Voruz; Marcos Bavdaz; Eric Wille; Ivo Ferreira; Mark Olde Riekerink; Jeroen Haneveld; Arenda Koelewijn; Maurice Wijnperle; Jan-Joost Lankwarden; Bart Schurink; Ronald Start; Coen van Baren; Jan-Willem den Herder; Evelyn Handick; Michael Krumrey; Vadim Burwitz; Sonny Massahi; Desiree Della Monica Ferreira; Sara Svendsen; Finn E. Christensen; William Mundon; Gavin Phillips

doi:10.1117/12.2630775

31 August 2022 The development of the mirror for the Athena x-ray mission

Maximilien J. Collon, Luis Abalo, Nicolas M. Barrière, Alex Bayerle, Luigi Castiglione, Noë Eenkhoorn, David Girou, Ramses Günther, Enrico Hauser, Roy van der Hoeven, Jasper den Hollander, Yvette Jenkins, Boris Landgraf, Laurens Keek, Ben Okma, Paulo da Silva Ribeiro, Chris Rizzos, Aniket Thete, Giuseppe Vacanti, Sjoerd Verhoeckx, Mark Vervest, Roel Visser, Luc Voruz, Marcos Bavdaz, Eric Wille, Ivo Ferreira, Mark Olde Riekerink, Jeroen Haneveld, Arenda Koelewijn, Maurice Wijnperle, Jan-Joost Lankwarden, Bart Schurink, Ronald Start, Coen van Baren, Jan-Willem den Herder, Evelyn Handick, Michael Krumrey, Vadim Burwitz, Sonny Massahi, Desiree Della Monica Ferreira, Sara Svendsen, Finn E. Christensen, William Mundon, Gavin Phillips

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 12181, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2022: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray; 121810U (2022) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2630775
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2022, Montréal, Québec, Canada

Abstract

Athena is the European Space Agency’s next flagship x-ray telescope, scheduled for launch in the 2030s. Its 2.5-m diameter mirror will be segmented and comprise more than 600 individual Silicon Pore Optics (SPO) grazing-incidence-angle imagers, called mirror modules. Arranged in concentric annuli and following a Wolter-Schwartzschild design, the mirror modules are made of several tens of primary-secondary mirror pairs, each mirror made of mono-crystalline silicon, coated to increase the collective area of the system, and shaped to bring the incoming photons to a common focus 12 m away. Aiming to deliver a half-energy width of 5”, and an effective area of about 1.4 m2 at 1 keV, the Athena mirror requires several hundred m2 of super-polished surfaces with a roughness of about 0.3 nm and a thickness of just 110 µm. SPO, using the highest-grade double-side polished 300 mm wafers commercially available, were invented for this purpose and have been consistently developed over the last several years to enable next-generation x-ray telescopes like Athena. SPO makes it possible to manufacture cost-effective, high-resolution, large-area x-ray optics by using all the advantages that mono-crystalline silicon and the mass production processes of the semiconductor industry provide. Ahead of important programmatic milestones for Athena, we present the status of the technology, and illustrate not only recent x-ray results but also the progress made on the environmental testing, manufacturing and assembly aspects of the technology.

Conference Presentation

Citation Download Citation

Maximilien J. Collon, Luis Abalo, Nicolas M. Barrière, Alex Bayerle, Luigi Castiglione, Noë Eenkhoorn, David Girou, Ramses Günther, Enrico Hauser, Roy van der Hoeven, Jasper den Hollander, Yvette Jenkins, Boris Landgraf, Laurens Keek, Ben Okma, Paulo da Silva Ribeiro, Chris Rizzos, Aniket Thete, Giuseppe Vacanti, Sjoerd Verhoeckx, Mark Vervest, Roel Visser, Luc Voruz, Marcos Bavdaz, Eric Wille, Ivo Ferreira, Mark Olde Riekerink, Jeroen Haneveld, Arenda Koelewijn, Maurice Wijnperle, Jan-Joost Lankwarden, Bart Schurink, Ronald Start, Coen van Baren, Jan-Willem den Herder, Evelyn Handick, Michael Krumrey, Vadim Burwitz, Sonny Massahi, Desiree Della Monica Ferreira, Sara Svendsen, Finn E. Christensen, William Mundon, and Gavin Phillips "The development of the mirror for the Athena x-ray mission", Proc. SPIE 12181, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2022: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray, 121810U (31 August 2022); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2630775

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available