Reflectance calibrations of AXAF witness mirrors using synchrotron radiation: 2 to 12 keV

摘要

For the past six years, a high-accuracy reflectance calibration system has been under development at the National Synchrotron Light Source at Brookhaven National Laboratory. The system utilizes Los Alamos National Laboratory's Beamlines X8A and X8C. Its purpose is to calibrate the reflection efficiencies of witness coupons associated with the coating of the eight mirror elements composing the High Resolution Mirror Assembly for NASA's Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility (AXAF). During the past year, measurements of reflectances of numerous iridium- coated witness flat mirrors have been obtained to a relative statistical precision of 0.4 percent, and an overall repeatability within 0.8 percent in the overlapping energy regions. The coating processes are strikingly repeatable, with reflectances in the 5-10 keV range for off-end witness flats nearly always being within 1 percent of one another, excluding interference fringes. The comparison reflectances between flats obtained from qualification coating runs and production runs of the Wolter Type I mirror elements are in turn nearly equal, indicating that the qualification run witness flats provide a good representation of the flight optics. Results will produce a calibration of AXAF with extremely good energy detail over the 2-12 keV range, which includes details of the M-absorption edge region for Ir. Development of the program to cover 0.05-2 keV continues.