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Analytical alignment tolerances for off-plane reflection grating spectroscopy

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Abstract

Future NASA X-ray Observatories will shed light on a variety of high-energy astrophysical phenomena. Off-plane reflection gratings can be used to provide high throughput and spectral resolution in the 0.3–1.5 keV band, allowing for unprecedented diagnostics of energetic astrophysical processes. A grating spectrometer consists of multiple aligned gratings intersecting the converging beam of a Wolter-I telescope. Each grating will be aligned such that the diffracted spectra overlap at the focal plane. Misalignments will degrade both spectral resolution and effective area. In this paper we present an analytical formulation of alignment tolerances that define grating orientations in all six degrees of freedom. We verify our analytical results with raytrace simulations to fully explore the alignment parameter space. We also investigate the effect of misalignments on diffraction efficiency.

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge support from NASA Strategic Astrophysics Technology grant, NNX12AF23G. The commercial software PCGrate-S(X) v.6.1 Ⓒ (I.I.G. Inc.) was also crucial in the completion of this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Ryan Allured

  2. University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA

    Randall T. McEntaffer

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  1. Ryan Allured
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  2. Randall T. McEntaffer
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Correspondence to Ryan Allured.

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Allured, R., McEntaffer, R.T. Analytical alignment tolerances for off-plane reflection grating spectroscopy. Exp Astron 36, 661–677 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10686-013-9349-y

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