XEUS is a single focus Wolter type I telescope with aperture diameter 10 m and focal length 50 m providing a collecting area >20 m^2 at 1 keV with angular resolution 2-5 arc seconds. The aperture is divided into sectors and the Wolter surfaces are manufactured as sector plates rather than continuous surfaces of revolution. The major technological challenges in constructing the mirror system are (i) manufacture of very high quality mirror plates (ii) handling and fixing of the plates during integration into a sector module and (iii) metrology of the reflecting surfaces before and during integration to ensure the desired angular resolution is met. This paper discusses techniques that can satisfy challenge (iii). A metrology scheme which can be used for monitoring the figure of the mirror plates during production, handling and integration is proposed. Simulation of the system demonstrates that the scheme has the potential for sub arc second accuracy which is more than adequate to satisfy the requirements for XEUS.

Date Published: 11 March 2003
PDF: 9 pages
Proc. SPIE 4851, X-Ray and Gamma-Ray Telescopes and Instruments for Astronomy, (11 March 2003); doi: 10.1117/12.461173

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 4851:
X-Ray and Gamma-Ray Telescopes and Instruments for Astronomy
Joachim E. Truemper; Harvey D. Tananbaum, Editor(s)