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Testing thin grazing-incidence X-ray mirrors at MSFC X-ray test beam
Significance: This slumped glass technique provided some of the world’s best thin grazing-angle X-ray mirror performance at the time, and was the predecessor for even better single-crystal silicon mirrors that are baselined for Lynx X-ray flagship mission concept
Project Title: Next Generation X-ray Optics: High Resolution ,Light Weight, and Low Cost
PI: Zhang, William (GSFC)
Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) bottom view image of prototype X-ray Critical-Angle Transmission (CAT) grating
Significance: Highest-resolution X-ray grating technology; baselined for Lynx X-ray flagship mission concept
Project Title: Development of Fabrication Process for X-Ray CAT Gratings
PI: Mark Schattenburg (MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research)
Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) of ATHENA Transition-Edge-Sensor (TES) arrays
Significance: TES microcalorimeters offer energy resolution for advanced X-ray observatories such as the European ATHENA mission
Project Title: High-Resolution Imaging X-ray Spectrometer
PI: Caroline Kilbourne (GSFC)
Mirror bonded to metrology mount during testing with piezo cell leads visible as part of development effort of adjustable thin X-ray mirrors
Significance: Adjustable X-ray optics are a backup technology for the Lynx large mission concept
Project Title: Adjustable X-ray Optics with Sub-Arcsecond Imaging
PI: Paul Reid (SAO)
A pre-master with radial grooves at high density, laminar grating in single crystal Si on path to developing off-plane X-ray reflection grating
Significance: X-ray reflection gratings enable high throughput, high spectral resolving power below 2 keV, a spectral band holding major astrophysics interest
Project Title: Off-Plane Grating Arrays for Future Missions
PI: Randall McEntaffer (PSU)
Lab test setup with 1570-nm laser locked to quartz cavity
Significance:A highly stable laser simultaneously locked to a cavity and a molecular transition at a telecom wavelength can provide a highly coherent light source for future missions
Project Title: Laser Stabilization with CO
PI: John Lipa (Stanford University)