Simulating X-ray telescopes with McXtrace: A case study of ATHENA's optics

摘要

We use the X-ray ray-tracing package McXtrace to simulate the performance of X-ray telescopes based on Silicon Pore Optics (SPO) technologies. We use as reference the design of the optics of the planned X-ray mission Advanced Telescope for High ENergy Astrophysics (ATHENA) which is designed as a single X-ray telescope populated with stacked SPO substrates forming mirror modules to focus X-ray photons. We show that is is possible to simulate in detail the SPO pores and qualify the use of McXtrace for in-depth analysis of in-orbit performance and laboratory X-ray test results.