The Smart X-ray Optics project is a UK based consortium of six institutions investigating active/adaptive X-ray optics for both large and small scale applications. The large scale application is aimed towards future high angular resolution, large X-ray telescopes for X-ray astronomy. The work presented here includes the modelling and the testing of the large scale prototype optic. The prototype incorporates piezoelectric devices to a standard X-ray shell to enable the surface to be actively deformed, aiming to achieve an angular resolution better than that currently available (e.g. Chandra 0.5"). The initial design is based on a thin nickel ellipsoid segment on the back of which a series of piezoelectric actuators have been bonded. Results from the initial testing of this prototype in the X-ray beam line at the University of Leicester are presented and simulation of the X-ray performance, the effect of the actuated piezoelectric devices on the detected image and further models are discussed.
The immediate future for X-ray astronomy is the need for high sensitivity, requiring large apertures and collecting areas, the newly combined NASA, ESA and JAXA mission IXO (International X-ray Observatory) is specifically designed to meet this need. However, looking beyond the next decade, there have been calls for an X-ray space telescope that can not only achieve this high sensitivity, but could also boast an angular resolution of 0.1 arc-seconds, a factor of five improvement on the Chandra X-ray Observatory. NASA's proposed Generation-X mission is designed to meet this demand; it has been suggested that the X-ray optics must be active in nature in order to achieve this desired resolution. The Smart X-ray Optics (SXO) project is a UK based consortium looking at the application of active/adaptive optics to both large and small scale devices, intended for astronomical and medical purposes respectively. With Generation-X in mind, an active elliptical prototype has been designed by the SXO consortium to perform point-to-point X-ray focussing, while simultaneously manipulating its optical surface to improve its initial resolution. Following the completion of the large scale SXO prototype, presented is an overview of the production and operation of the prototype, with emphasis on the X-ray environment and preliminary results.
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