| Name: | Anand Jain |
| Affiliation: | U R Rao Satellite Centre, Indian Space Research Organisation |
| Conference ID : | ASI2024_617 |
| Title : | Test and Characterization of MicroPore X-ray Optics for Space Science Instrumentation |
| Authors : | Anand Jain, Shyam Prakash V P, Kiran L, Koushal Vadodariya, Ramadevi M C, Radhakrishna V, Sankarasubramanian K |
| Authors Affiliation: | Space Astronomy Group, ISITE Campus, U. R. Rao Satellite Centre, ISRO, Bangalore-560037, India |
| Mode of Presentation: | Poster |
| Abstract Category : | Facilities, Technologies and Data science |
| Abstract : | MicroPore Optics (MPO) is one of the key technologies for the realization of X-ray payloads using lightweight X-ray optics. MPO consists of millions of square channels arranged in a well-defined order. The surfaces inside the square channels have a near perfect flatness and a very low roughness. They formed in such a way that a collimated X-rays would get focused at a specified focal length through total external reflection at grazing incidence. MPO can be used to design an X-ray imaging system which can provide a large collection area and focus it to a small detector area allowing a high sensitive instrument with lesser background and hence superior SNR compared to collimator based imaging. In this presentation, we detail the instrumental configuration and the experimental characterization of the MPO for its imaging performance. The configuration comprises of an X-ray source, MPO and an X-ray Charge Couple Device (CCD). Performance of MPO is evaluated under vacuum condition at different energies using X-ray fluorescence targets. Several key parameters like Estimation of Focal Length, MPO performance at different energies, Spot size etc were studied. The focal length of the optics plays a key role in determining the performance and overall size of the instrument. Focal length estimation was carried out by analyzing the variation of the Full Width at Half Maximum (FWHM) of the image of a quasi-parallel input for different MPO to CCD distance. One of the major applications of MPO is for the realization of lightweight Wide Field X-ray Monitor which has a wide FoV to provide an excellent platform to carry out long-term spectro-temporal study of astrophysical sources. In addition, there is a requirement to use the X-ray optics as a concentrator to improve the sensitivity of the instrument to detect faint X-ray sources. |
