Differential deposition technique for figure corrections in grazing-incidence x-ray optics

摘要

A differential deposition technique was investigated as a way to minimize axial figure errors in full-shell, grazing-incidence, reflective x-ray optics. These types of optics use a combination of off-axis conic segments-hyperbolic, parabolic, and/or elliptical, to reflect and image x-rays. Several such mirrors or "shells" of decreasing diameter are typically concentrically nested to form a single focusing unit. Individual mirrors are currently produced at Marshall Space Flight Center using an electroforming technique, in which the shells are replicated off figured and superpolished mandrels. Several factors in this fabrication process lead to low- and mid-spatial frequency deviations in the surface profile of the shell that degrade the imaging quality of the optics. A differential deposition technique, discussed in this paper, seeks to improve the achievable resolution of the optics by correcting the surface profile deviations of the shells after fabrication. As a proof of concept, the technique was implemented on small-animal radionuclide-imaging x-ray optics being considered for medical applications. This paper discusses the deposition technique, its implementation, and the experimental results obtained to date.