Giancarlo Parodi

BCV progetti srl

The traditional solution foreseen for the realisation of very large X-ray mirror modules (diameters above 1 m) is the partition of the optics in azimuth and radial modules (like Silicon Pore Optics in Athena). Even if this approach solves the initial problem of the procurement and the handling of very large substrates, it moves the difficulties in...

The BEaTriX (Beam Expander Testing X-ray) facility has completed the commissioning phase. This unique compact facility – that occupies an area of 8 x 14 m2 - provides a large (170 mm × 60 mm) collimated (< 2.5 arcsec) monochromatic beam at the energy of 4.51 keV. Its concept is based on the combination of a microfocus X-ray source, a parabolic mirr...

The mirror assembly of the ESA New - Advanced Telescope for High-ENergy Astrophysics (New-ATHENA) will be the largest X-ray optics ever built. Indeed, its unprecedented size, mass and focal length create great difficulties for the ground calibration. The VERT-X project aims at developing an innovative calibration facility which will be able to acco...

BEaTriX (Beam Expander Testing X-ray facility) is the new facility available at the INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico Brera (Merate, Italy) for the calibration of X-ray optics. Specifically designed to measure the point spread function (PSF) and the effective area (EA) of the mirror modules (MM) of the ATHENA X-ray telescope at their production rate, B...

The ESA Advanced Telescope for High-ENergy Astrophysics (ATHENA) will be the largest X-ray optics ever built. The ground calibration of its mirror assembly raises significant difficulties due to its unprecedented size, mass and focal length. The VERT-X project aims at developing an innovative calibration system which will be able to accomplish this...

BEaTriX (Beam Expander Testing X-ray) is the compact (18m × 9m) X-ray facility being implemented at INAF for the acceptance tests of the ATHENA Silicon Pore Optics Mirror Modules (MM) working at the two energies of 1.49 and 4.51 keV. It adopts an innovative design based on a collimating mirror and Bragg crystals in proper configuration to provide a...

The BEaTriX (Beam Expander Testing X-ray) facility is now operative at the INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico Brera (Merate, Italy). This facility has been specifically designed and built for the X-ray acceptance tests (PSF and Effective Area) of the ATHENA Silicon Pore Optics (SPO) Mirror Modules (MM). The unique setup creates a parallel, monochromatic...

An X-ray Observatory, with superb imaging capabilities and with large throughput, has been recognised as a strategic missions in the Astro2020 decadal survey. The traditional solution foreseen for the realisation of very large x-ray mirror modules (diameters above 1 m) is the partition of the optics in azimuthal and radial modules (like Silicon Por...

The Beam Expander Testing X-ray facility (BEaTriX) is a unique X-ray apparatus now operated at the Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF), Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera (OAB), in Merate, Italy. It has been specifically designed to measure the point spread function (PSF) and the effective area (EA) of mirror modules (MM) of the Advanced Telesc...

ATHENA is the future X-ray telescope to observe hot and energetic Universe. It has been selected by European Space Agency (ESA) as a second large mission with a launch foreseen in 2031. Polish engineers and researchers were invited to participate in the design and construction of subsystems for both ATHENA instruments. In this paper, we present the...

The X-ray Integral Field Unit (X-IFU) is one of the two instruments of the Athena astrophysics space mission approved by ESA in the Cosmic Vision Science Program. The X-IFU consists of a large array of TES microcalorimeters that will operate at ~ 50 mK inside a sophisticated cryostat. A set of thin filters, highly transparent to X-rays, will be mou...

The Wide Field Imager (WFI) is one of the two instruments of the ATHENA astrophysics space mission approved by ESA as the second large mission in the Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 Science Programme. The WFI, based on a large array of depleted field effect transistors (DEPFET), will provide imaging in the 0.2-15 keV band over a 40'x40' field of view, simu...

ATHENA is a Large high energy astrophysics space mission selected by ESA in the Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 Science Program. It will be equipped with two interchangeable focal plane detectors: the X-Ray Integral Field Unit (X-IFU) and the Wide Field Imager (WFI). Both detectors require x-ray transparent filters to fully exploit their sensitivity. In or...

ATHENA (Advanced Telescope for High-ENergy Astrophysics) is the next high-energy astrophysical mission of the European Space Agency. Media Lario leads an industrial and scientific team that has developed a process to align and integrate more than 700 silicon pore optics mirror modules into the ATHENA X-ray telescope. The process is based on the ult...

The X-ray Integral Field Unit (X-IFU) is one of the two instruments of the Athena astrophysics space mission approved by ESA in the Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 Science Programme. The X-IFU consists of a large array of transition edge sensor micro-calorimeters that will operate at ∼100 mK inside a sophisticated cryostat. A set of thin filters, highly tr...

The construction of the BEaTriX (Beam Expander Testing X-ray) facility is ongoing at INAF/Osservatorio astronomico di Brera. The facility will generate a broad (170 x 60 mm2), uniform and low-divergent (1.5 arcsec HEW) X-ray beam within a small lab (∼ 9 x 18 m2), using an X-ray microfocus source, a paraboloidal mirror, a monochromation system based...

ATHENA (Advanced Telescope for High-ENergy Astrophysics) is the next high-energy astrophysical mission selected by the European Space Agency for launch in 2028. The X-ray telescope consists of 1062 silicon pore optics mirror modules with a target angular resolution of 5 arcsec. Each module must be integrated on a 3 m structure with an accuracy of 1...

An important challenge for the X-ray astronomy of the new millennium is represented by the implementation of an X- ray telescope able to maintain the exquisite angular resolution of Chandra (with a sub-arcsec HEW, on-axis) but, at the same time, being characterized by a much larger throughput and grasp. A mission with similar characteristics is rep...

ATHENA is the L2 mission selected by ESA to pursue the science theme “Hot and Energetic Universe.” One of the two focal plane instruments is the X-ray Integral Field Unit, an array of TES microcalorimeters operated at T \(<\) 100 mK. To allow the X-ray photons focused by the telescope to reach the detector, windows have to be opened on the cryostat...

The planned filter and calibration wheel for the Wide Field Imager (WFI) instrument on Athena is presented. With four selectable positions it provides the necessary functions, in particular an UV/VIS blocking filter for the WFI detectors and a calibration source. Challenges for the filter wheel design are the large volume and mass of the subsystem,...

ATHENA is the L2 mission selected by ESA to pursue the science theme “Hot and Energetic Universe” (launch scheduled in 2028). One of the key instruments of ATHENA is the Wide Field Imager (WFI) which will provide imaging in the 0.1-15 keV band over a 40’x40’ large field of view, together with spectrally and time-resolved photon counting. The WFI ca...

ATHENA is the L2 mission selected by ESA to pursue the science theme “Hot and Energetic Universe” (launch scheduled in 2028). One of the key instruments of ATHENA is the Wide Field Imager (WFI) which will provide imaging in the 0.1-15 keV band over a 40’x40’ large field of view, together with spectrally and time-resolved photon counting. The WFI ca...

The Hot Slumping Technology is under development by several research groups in the world for the realization of grazing-incidence segmented mirrors for X-ray astronomy, based on thin glass plates shaped over a mould at temperatures above the transformation point. The performed thermal cycle and related operations might have effects on the strength...

The Hot Slumping Technology is under development by several research groups in the world for the realization of X-ray segmented mirrors, based on thin glass plates: during the process of slumping, a glass foil is shaped over a mould at temperatures above its transformation point. The performed thermal cycle and related operations might have effects...

The Astronomical Observatory of Brera (INAF-OAB, Italy), with the financing support of the European Space Agency (ESA), has concluded a study regarding a glass shaping technology for the production of grazing incidence segmented x-ray optics. This technique uses a hot slumping phase, in which pressure is actively applied on thin glass foils being s...

One of the most difficult requests to be accomplished from the technological point of view for next generation x-ray telescopes is to combine high angular resolution and effective area. A significant increase of effective area can be reached with high precision but at the same time thin (2-3 mm thickness for mirror diameters of 30-110 cm) glass mir...

The next generation of Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescope will explore the uppermost end of the Very High Energy domain up to about few hundreds of TeV with unprecedented sensitivity, angular resolution and imaging quality. To this end, the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF) is currently developing a scientific and technological...

The implementation of a X-ray mission with high imaging capabilities, similar to those achieved with Chandra (< 1 arcsec Half Energy Width, HEW), but with a much larger throughput is a very attractive perspective, even if challenging. For such a mission the scientific opportunities, in particular for the study of the early Universe, would remain at...

Future high energy astrophysics missions will require high performance novel X-ray optics to explore the Universe beyond the limits of the currently operating Chandra and Newton observatories. Innovative optics technologies are therefore being developed and matured by the European Space Agency (ESA) in collaboration with research institutions and i...

The next generation of IACT (Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescope) will explore the uppermost end of the VHE (Very High Energy) domain up to about few hundreds of TeV with unprecedented sensibility, angular resolution and imaging quality. To this end, INAF (Italian National Institute of Astrophysics) is currently developing a scientific and tech...

Future lightweight and long-focal-length x-ray telescopes must guarantee a good angular resolution (e.g., 5 arc sec HEW) and reach an unprecedented large effective area. This goal can be reached with the slumping of borosilicate glass sheets that allow the fabrication of lightweight and low-cost x-ray optical units (XOU). These XOUs, based on mirro...

At the Brera Astronomical Observatory – INAF (Italy) we are involved in development activities, aiming at the design and development of the IXO mirrors based on slumping glass technique. Our approach is based on the use of thermal slumping of thin glass optics and presents a number of innovative solutions for the implementation of the concept. In p...

We present a method for the production of segmented optics. It is a novel processing developed at INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera (INAF-OAB) employing commercial of-the-shelf materials. It is based on the shaping of thin glass foils by means of forced bending, this occurring at room temperature (cold-shaping). The glass is then assembled int...

The mirrors of the International X-ray Observatory (IXO) were based on a large number of high quality segments, aiming at achieving a global spatial resolution better than 5” HEW while giving a large collecting area (around 3m²@ 1 keV). A study concerning the hot slumping of thin glass foils was started in Europe, funded by ESA and led b...

The next generation wide-field X-ray telescope (WFXT), to be implemented beyond eRosita and proposed within the NASA RFI call 2011, requires an angular resolution of less than 10 arcsec (with goal of 5”) constant across a wide field of view (1 deg2). To achieve this requirement the design is based on nested modified grazing incidence Wolter-I mirro...

Some of the best astronomical sites are unfortunately located in potentially seismic areas. An appropriate study to evaluate the dynamic forces acting on telescope optics is therefore crucial, to prevent them from damages in case of earthquakes. We present a procedure to estimate the response of the VLT Survey Telescope (VST) telescope primary mirr...

The International X-ray Observatory (IXO) is a joint mission concept studied by the ESA, NASA, and JAXA space agencies. The main goal of the mission design is to achieve a large effective area (>2.5m2 at 1 keV) and a good angular resolution (5 arcsec HEW at 1 keV) at the same time. The Brera Astronomical Observatory - INAF (Italy), under the suppor...

The large dimensions of the future X-ray telescopes, with diameters ranging from 3.5 m and up to several meters, will require the adoption of segmented optics and hence the development of new technologies for their manufacturing. These technologies are based on lightweight materials and structures to comply with the mass constrains imposed by the l...

The mirrors of the International X-ray Observatory (IXO) were based on of a large number of high quality segments, aiming at achieving a global spatial resolution better than 5 arcsec (HEW). A study concerning the slumping of thin glass foils for the IXO mirrors is under development in Europe, funded by ESA and led by the Brera Observatory and is c...

Effective area requirements for the large X-ray mirror of the International X-ray Observatory (IXO) are about 3 m2 at 1keV, 0.65 m2 at 6 keV and 150 cm2 at 30 keV. Because of its large dimension, the telescope cannot be realized as a monolithic structure but rather it requires the integration and assembly in the telescope optical bench of a number...

The next generation wide-field X-ray telescope (WFXT) will require an angular resolution of ~5-10 arcsec almost constant across a wide field of view (~1 deg2 diameter). To achieve this goal, the design of the optical system has to be based on mirrors characterized by short length and polynomial profiles, as well as focal plane curvature and plate s...

The New Hard X-ray Mission (NHXM) project will be operated by 2016 and is currently undergoing the Phase B study. It is based on 4 hard X-ray optics modules, each formed by 60 evenly spaced multilayer coated Wolter I mirror shells. An extensible bench is used to reach the 10 m focal length. The Wolter I monolithic substrates with multilayer coating...

The Wide Field X-ray Telescope (WFXT) is a medium class mission for X-ray surveys of the sky with an unprecedented area and sensitivity. In order to meet the effective area requirement, the design of the optical system is based on very thin mirror shells, with thicknesses in the 1-2 mm range. In order to get the desired angular resolution (10 arcse...

The VST telescope is a wide field survey telescope being installed at Cerro Paranal (Chile). Due to the geological nature of the area, telescopes in Chile are always submitted to unpredictable and sometimes severe earthquake conditions. In order to clarify some aspects of VST telescope seismic behavior not well represented by linear procedures like...

The mirrors of the International X-ray Observatory (IXO) consist of a large number of high quality segments delivering a spatial resolution better than 5 arcsec. A study concerning the slumping of thin glass foils for the IXO mirrors is under development in Europe, funded by ESA and led by the Brera Observatory. We are investigating two approaches,...

The Energetic X-ray Imaging Survey Telescope (EXIST) will continuously survey the full sky in scanning mode for 2- years followed by a 3-years pointing phase. The mission includes three instruments: a High Energy coded mask Telescope; a 1.1m aperture optical-IR Telescope; and a Soft X-ray Imager (SXI), sensitive in the 0.1-10 keV band. SXI is propo...

The International X-ray Observatory (IXO) is being studied as a joint mission by the NASA, ESA and JAXA space agencies. The main goals of the mission are large effective area (>3m 2 at 1 keV) and a good angular resolution (<5 arcsec HEW at 1 keV). This paper reports on an activity ongoing in Europe, supported by ESA and led by the Brera Astronomica...

As for all space missions, the limit imposed on the payload mass budget by the launcher is the main driver that forces the use of very lightweight optics. Considering the International X-ray Observatory (IXO) mission the present configuration has a mirror collecting area in the order of 3 m2 at 1.25 keV, 0.65 m2 at 6 keV, and 150 cm2 at 30 keV. The...

The necessity to reduce the mass and to increase the collecting area requires that the thickness of the optics becomes more and more thinner. Simbol-X was a typical example of this trend. Such thickness makes the shells floppy and therefore unable to maintain the correct shape. During the integration of the shells into the mechanical structure, onl...

X-ray mirrors are usually built in the Wolter I (paraboloid-hyperboloid) configuration which provides, in principle, perfect on-axis images. This design exhibits no spherical aberration on-axis but suffers from field curvature, coma and astigmatism, therefore the angular resolution degrades rapidly with increasing off-axis angles. Different mirror...

At the Brera Astronomical Observatory – INAF (Italy) we are involved in development activities, aiming at the design and development of the IXO mirrors based on slumping glass technique. Our approach is based on the use of thermal slumping of thin glass optics and presents a number of innovative solutions for the implementation of the concept. In p...

Scope of this document is to report some details on the activities performed in the phase A of the SIMBOL-X project to develop a magnetic diverter (MD), aimed at reducing the background due to the funnelling of high-energy (100 keV and above), charged particles, chiefly protons and electrons.

The XEUS mission (X-ray Evolving-Universe Spectroscopy Mission) of ESA, in the present configuration has a mirror collecting area in the order of 5-6 m2 @ 1 keV, 2 m2 @ 7 keV and 1 m2 @ 10 keV. These large collecting areas could be obtained with a mirror assembly composed of a large number of high quality segments each being able to deliver the ang...

The SIMBOL-X formation-flight X-ray mission will be operated by ASI and CNES in 2014, with a large participation of the French and Italian high energy astrophysics scientific community. Also German and US Institutions are contributing in the implementation of the scientific payload. Thanks to the formation-flight architecture, it will be possible t...

The Ni electroforming replication process has been used successfully by Beppo-SAX, JET-X/SWIFT, and XMM- Newton, to produce their gold-coated X-ray mirrors. The important feature of the technique is that, also with thin substrates, it is possible to achieve a good angular resolution, which is important for obtaining high signal-to-noise ratios in d...

The Ni electroforming replication process has been used successfully by Beppo-SAX, JET-X/SWIFT, and XMM-Newton, to produce their gold-coated X-ray mirrors. The important feature of the technique is that, also with thin substrates, it is possible to achieve a good angular resolution, which is important for obtaining high signal-to-noise ratios in de...

One of the main guidelines for future X-ray astronomy projects like, e.g., XEUS (ESA) and Generation-X (NASA) is to utilize grazing-incidence focusing optics with extremely large telescopes (several tens of m2 at 1 keV), with a dramatic increase in collecting area of about two order of magnitude compared to the current X-ray telescopes. In order to...

Future X-ray missions plan to utilize grazing incidence optics with very large diameter, very low angular resolutions and very light structural masses. These extremely severe requirements make the structural numerical modelling an essential tool, in order to investigate the structural integrity and the distortions of the optics, in the different sc...

The XEUS mission (X-ray Evolving-Universe Spectroscopy Mission) is a future ESA project currently under study. With a mirror collecting area of up to 30 m2 @ 1 keV and 3 m2 @ 8 keV it will outperform the x-ray space observatories like XMM-Newton. In fact it will have a source flux sensitivity and angular resolution respectively 250 times and 7.5 ti...

The Constellation-X mission, planned for launch in 2013, will feature an array of hard-x-ray telescopes (HXT) with a total collecting area of greater than 1500 cm 2 at 40 keV. Two technologies are currently being investigated for the optics of these telescopes including multilayer-coated Eletroformed-Nickel-Replicated (ENR) shells. The attraction o...

The NASA's Constellation X-Ray Mission consists of a Soft X-Ray Telescope (SXT) based on large collecting area optics plus a focusing Hard X-Ray Telescope (HXT) operating between 8 and 70 keV and possibly at even higher energy. The Con-X HXT will have a focal length of 10 m and graze angles are small (0.25 - 0.1 deg). The substrates will be coated...

The NASA's Constellation X-Ray Mission consists of a Soft X-Ray Telescope (SXT) based on large collecting area optics plus a focusing Hard X-Ray Telescope (HXT) operating between 8 and 70 keV and possibly at even higher energy. The Con-X HXT will have a focal length of 10 m and graze angles are small (0.25 - 0.1 deg). The substrates will be coated...

In this paper we will review the activities devoted to the development of soft (0.1-10 keV) and hard (10-100 keV) X-ray optics for future astronomical missions that were carried out at the Brera Astronomical Observatory (OAB, Italy) during the last year. Concerning the soft X-ray optics, we are studying the approach based on the use of ceramic carr...

One of the main guidelines for future X ray astronomy projects like e.g. XEUS- (ESA) and Generation-X (NASA) is to utilize grazing-incidence focusing optics2 with extremely large collecting areas (several m tens at 1 keV), with a dramatic increase of about two order of magnitude compared to the current X-ray telescopes. In order not to fall beyond...

In this paper we will review the activities devoted to the development of soft (0.1-10 keV) and hard (10-100 keV) X-ray optics for future astronomical missions that were carried out at the Brera Astronomical Observatory (OAB, Italy) during the last year. Concerning the soft X-ray optics, we are studying the approach based on the use of ceramic carr...

Nowadays the most used technology to obtain thin and light mirror shells for x-ray optics is the replica technique by nickel electroforming. This technology has been successfully employed for projects like SAX, JET-X and XMM. Nevertheless, the high density of the nickel poses some limitations to the possibility of extending the use of this technolo...

By combining the excellent intrinsic thermo-mechanical properties of the SiC (silicon carbide) with a structural design based on a sandwich structure composed of two SiC face sheets CVD (chemical vapor deposition) deposited on a foam core of the same material, it is possible to manufacture very light and stiff primary mirrors for telescopes to be o...

By combining the excellent intrinsic thermo-mechanical properties of the SiC (Silicon Carbide) with a structural design based on a sandwich structure composed of two SiC face sheets CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition) deposited on a foam core of the same material, it is possible to manufacture very light and stiff primary mirrors for telescopes to be o...

Nowadays the most used technology to obtain thin and light mirror shells for x-ray optics is the replica technique by nickel electroforming. This technology has been successfully employed for projects like SAX, JET-X and XMM. Nevertheless, the high density of the nickel poses some limitations to the possibility of extending the use of this technolo...