Paper 13093-108
Paper 13093-108
Ultraviolet reflective grating performance verification test setup and simulations for the Aspera SmallSat mission
On demand | Presented live 17 June 2024 
Abstract
Aspera is a NASA Pioneers SmallSat mission designed to detect and map the O VI emission (103.2 nm) through long-slit spectroscopy in the halos of nearby galaxies for the first time. The spectrograph utilizes toroidal gratings with multilayer coatings of aluminum, lithium fluoride, and magnesium fluoride that optimize their throughput in the extreme ultraviolet EUV waveband of 103 to 104 nm. We discuss the grating verification test setup design, including optical alignment and reference measurement setup. We also present the result of grating efficiency simulation using the target grating groove profile and the multi-layer coatings.
Presenter
The Univ. of Arizona (United States)
Jess received her B.Eng. with a triple major in physics, astronomy, and mech. eng. in 2015, her M.S. in mech. eng. in 2016 from SBU, and Ph.D. in physics at UA in May 2024. At Brookhaven National Laboratory, she worked as a mechanical design engineer for the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment, and the Short Baseline Near Detector. Jess was a Ph.D. student under the supervision of Dr. Erika Hamden, working on UV astrophysics instrumentation. Her projects included: 1) analyzing Palomar Cosmic Web Imager data to understand the circumgalactic medium around quasars, 2) developing the Faint Intergalactic Medium Redshifted Balloon Telescope calibration system, 3) working on the Aspera SmallSat mission's grating characterization testing, and 4) measuring novel small-scale gratings manufactured with electron beam lithography for technology development in UV spectroscopy (collaboration with UIowa).
Also in the session