The ground calibration of the NewATHENA mirror poses significant challenges owing to its unprecedented size, mass, and focal length. VERT-X is an innovative calibration facility designed to tackle this exceptionally demanding task. It relies on an X-ray parallel beam, generated by a micro-focus source positioned at the focus of an X-ray collimator. A raster-scan mechanism enables the beam movement, covering all NewATHENA optics at varying off-axis angles. The compactness of the concept offers several benefits, including the vertical geometry which implies minimal PSF degradation due to lateral gravity. Furthermore, this allows for a flexible choice of location. Indeed one of the most important feature of VERT-X is its contiguity with the mirror integration facility. The driving factor in the VERT-X design is to meet the NewATHENA calibration requirement for Half- Energy Width (HEW) accuracy at 0.1”. Key contributors to the error budget in the VERT-X design include the source size, collimator error, and raster-scan pointing accuracy. This paper provides an overview of the current status of the development of these critical parts.
The mirror assembly of the ESA New - Advanced Telescope for High-ENergy Astrophysics (New-ATHENA) will be the largest x-ray optics ever built. Indeed, its unprecedented size, mass and focal length create great difficulties for the ground calibration. The VERT-X project aims at developing an innovative calibration facility which will be able to accomplish to this extremely challenging task. The design is based on a 2.5 cm2 parallel beam produced by an x-ray source positioned in the focus of a highly performing collimator. In order to cover the whole mirror, the beam will be accurately moved by a raster-scan with the capability to tilt up to three degrees in order to test the off-axis performance and the out of field stray-light. The whole system is enclosed in a cylindrical vacuum chamber about 20 m high and with a diameter ranging from 7 to 4 m. By design, VERT-X will be able to measure the New-ATHENA mirror half energy width (HEW) with a precision of 0.1”, all over the field of view, with the source size, the collimator error and the raster scan tracking accuracy being the most important terms of the error budget. The VERT-X project, started in 2018, is financed by ESA and conducted by a consortium that includes INAF together with EIE, Media Lario, BCV Progetti and Apogeo Space. This paper presents the current state of the development and manufacturing of the most critical systems of the facility, namely the raster-scan mechanism and the source-collimator vertical assembly.
The ESA Advanced Telescope for High-ENergy Astrophysics (ATHENA) will be the largest X-ray optics ever built. The ground calibration of its mirror assembly raises significant difficulties due to its unprecedented size, mass and focal length. The VERT-X project aims at developing an innovative calibration system which will be able to accomplish this extremely challenging task. The design is based on a 2.5 cm2parallel beam produced by an X-ray source positioned in the focus of a highly performing collimator; in order to cover the whole 2.5m diameter mirror, the beam is accurately moved by a raster-scan mechanism. The same device has the capability to tilt the beam by 3 degrees, in order to test both the off-axis performance and the out-of-field stray-light contamination. By design, VERT-X will be able to measure the ATHENA mirror half energy width (HEW) with a precision of 0.1”, all over the field of view, with the source size, the collimator error and the raster scan tracking accuracy being the most important terms of the error budget. With respect to the traditional long-tubes, the VERT-X facility is much more compact. The entire system will be enclosed in a cylindrical 18m-high vacuum chamber with diameter ranging from 7m as maximum to 4m at minimum. Besides the smaller amount of involved resources, there are important benefits generated by the small scale design. First, it allows a vertical geometry which largely simplifies the mirror support and reduces to zero the PSF degradation due to the lateral gravity. Then, the location of the facility can be chosen flexibly and according to the project needs. Indeed, VERT-X will be built in continuity to the ATHENA mirror assembly integration facility, simplifying the verification and testing procedures. The VERT-X project, started in January 2018, is financed by ESA and conducted by a consortium that includes INAF, EIE, Media Lario, Apogeo Space (former GPAP), and BCV Progetti.
The ATHENA X-ray telescope will be the largest X-ray optics ever built. The ground calibration of this mirror assembly raises significant difficulties due to its unprecedented size, mass and focal length. The VERT-X project aims at developing an innovative calibration system which will be able to accomplish to this extremely challenging task.The design is based on an X-ray parallel beam produced by an X-ray source positioned in the focus of a highly performing X-ray collimator; the beam will be accurately moved by a raster-scan mechanism covering all the ATHENA optics at different off-axis angles. The main driving factor in the VERT-X design is the ATHENA calibration requirement on the accuracy in the HEW measure which is 0.1”, all over the field of view. The VERT-X project, started in January 2019, is financed by ESA and conducted by a consortium that includes INAF together with EIE, Media Lario, BCV Progetti and GPAP.
Calibration of the ATHENA telescope is a critical aspect of the project and raises significant difficulties due to the unprecedented size, mass and focal length of the mirror assembly. The VERT-X project, financed by ESA and started in January 2019 by a Consortium led by INAF and which includes EIE, Media Lario Technologies, GPAP, and BCV Progetti, aims to design an innovative calibration facility. In the VERT-X design the parallel beam, needed for calibration, is produced placing a source in the focus of an X-ray collimator. This system is mounted on a raster-scan mechanism which covers the entire ATHENA optics. The compactness of the VERT-X design allows a vertical geometry for the ATHENA calibration facility, with several potential benefits with respect to the long horizontal tube calibration facilities.
This paper describes the fabrication and, in particular, the assembly processes of a miniaturized micro-optical system, to be integrated on a hybrid flexible module, which hosts also electronics and microsensors. The whole module was conceived to be mass-produced in order to be distributed in skin-like structures for robotic tactile applications. Nevertheless, it is generally suitable for sensing applications where the flexibility and the thickness of the sensing network are primary requirements. The micro-optical system works as a part of an optoelectronic transducer where electric signals, generated by tactile MEMS sensors, are computed by a microcontroller that drives the micro-optical system. This consequently generates optical radiation, by means of integrated light emitting diodes (LEDs), to be coupled into optical fibers, which waveguide signals to a CMOS optical sensor. Micro-machining and micro-assembly processes of miniaturized components are critical steps in order to fabricate many of these modules according to the application requirements.
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