Unique mechanical and optical design features of this solar x -ray telescope were required to survive launch, and to achieve excellent imagery over a large field of view. These design features placed exceptional demands on all of the manufacturing and measurement processes. Survivability dictated use of a monolithic mirror assembly with both optical surfaces generated and polished on the same substrate. Good performance dictated a maximum axial separation of 5 mm between these surfaces (H -1 and H -2), placing difficult restrictions on the generation, polishing, and smoothing operations. The wide field requirements of a solar imager placed unprecedented tolerances on measurement and control of H -1 to H -2 alignment, delta-delta Radius, and absolute axial sag, because of the short axial dimension. An additional portion of the error budget for delta-delta Radius had to be given to large on -orbit thermal variations, tightening this specification even further.
ABSTRACTUnique mechanical and optical design features of this solar x-ray telescope were required to survive launch, and to achieve excellent imagery over a large field of view. These design features placed exceptional demands on all of the manufacturing and measurement processes. Survivability dictated use of a monolithic mirror assembly with both optical surfaces generated and polished on the same substrate. Good performance dictated a maximum axial separation of 5 mm between these surfaces (H-l and H-2), placing difficult restrictions on the generation, polishing, and smoothing operations. The wide field requirements of a solar imager placed unprecedented tolerances on measurement and control of H-l to H-2 alignment, delta-delta Radius, and absolute axial sag, because of the short axial dimension. An additional portion of the error budget for delta-delta Radius had to be given to large on-orbit thermal variations, tightening this specification even further. SPIE Vol. 1160 X-Ray/EUV Optics for Astronomy and Microscopy (1989) / 465 Downloaded From: http://proceedings.spiedigitallibrary.org/ on 06/21/2016 Terms of Use: http://spiedigitallibrary.org/ss/TermsOfUse.aspx
A preliminary interferometric procedure is described showing potential for obtaining surface figure error maps of grazing incidence optics at normal incidence.The latter are found in some laser resonator configurations, and in Wolter type X -ray optics.The procedure makes use of cylindrical wavefronts and error subtraction techniques over subapertures. The surface error maps obtained will provide critical information to opticians in the fabrication process.
Most ground-based telescope mirror coatings are exposed to hostile environments, as the humidity, dust, and reactive gases in the air corrode and tarnish the coating. As the coating degrades the scatter increases. Eventually, every mirror needs to be recoated. This is a costly, time-consuming process that requires telescope down time and involves risks to both people and to equipment. The AEOS (Advanced Electro-Optical System) telescope has a mirror purge system that fills the mirror cell with dry air while the telescope is stowed. We present results conclusively demonstrating that this system extends the lifetime of the AEOS primary mirror coating, reducing the need for burdensome recoating.
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