Journal article
Performance Testing of a Large-Format X-ray Reflection Grating Prototype for a Suborbital Rocket Payload
Journal of Astronomical Instrumentation, Vol.9(4), 2050017
12/01/2020
DOI: 10.1142/S2251171720500178
Abstract
The soft X-ray grating spectrometer on board the Off-plane Grating Rocket Experiment (OGRE) hopes to achieve the highest resolution soft X-ray spectrum of an astrophysical object when it is launched via suborbital rocket. Paramount to the success of the spectrometer are the performance of the >250 reflection gratings populating its reflection grating assembly. To test current grating fabrication capabilities, a grating prototype for the payload was fabricated via electron-beam lithography at The Pennsylvania State University's Materials Research Institute and was subsequently tested for performance at Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics' PANTER X-ray Test Facility. Bayesian modeling of the resulting data via Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) sampling indicated that the grating achieved the OGRE single-grating resolution requirement of Rg(lambda/Delta lambda)>4500 at the 94% confidence level. The resulting Rg posterior probability distribution suggests that this confidence level is likely a conservative estimate though, since only a finite Rg parameter space was sampled and the model could not constrain the upper bound of Rg to less than infinity. Raytrace simulations of the tested system found that the observed data can be reproduced with a grating performing at Rg=infinity. It is therefore postulated that the behavior of the obtained Rg posterior probability distribution can be explained by a finite measurement limit of the system and not a finite limit on Rg. Implications of these results and improvements to the test setup are discussed.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Performance Testing of a Large-Format X-ray Reflection Grating Prototype for a Suborbital Rocket Payload
- Creators
- Benjamin D. Donovan - Pennsylvania State UniversityRandall L. McEntaffer - Pennsylvania State UniversityCasey T. DeRoo - University of IowaJames H. Tutt - Pennsylvania State UniversityFabien Grise - Pennsylvania State UniversityChad M. Eichfeld - Pennsylvania State UniversityOren Z. Gall - Pennsylvania State UniversityVadim Burwitz - Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial PhysicsGisela Hartner - Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial PhysicsCarlo Pelliciari - Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial PhysicsMarlis-Madeleine La Caria - Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Journal of Astronomical Instrumentation, Vol.9(4), 2050017
- DOI
- 10.1142/S2251171720500178
- ISSN
- 2251-1717
- eISSN
- 2251-1725
- Publisher
- World Scientific
- Number of pages
- 19
- Grant note
- Pennsylvania State University NASA Space Technology Research Fellowship NNX17AD19G / NASA; National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA)
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 12/01/2020
- Academic Unit
- Physics and Astronomy; University College Courses
- Record Identifier
- 9984429037202771
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