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Register a new userLAMP: a micro-satellite based soft X-ray polarimeter for astrophysics
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The Lightweight Asymmetry and Magnetism Probe (LAMP) is a micro-satellite mission concept dedicated for astronomical X-ray polarimetry and is currently under early phase study. It consists of segmented paraboloidal multilayer mirrors with a collecting area of about 1300 cm^2 to reflect and focus 250 eV X-rays, which will be detected by position sensitive detectors at the focal plane. The primary targets of LAMP include the thermal emission from the surface of pulsars and synchrotron emission produced by relativistic jets in blazars. With the expected sensitivity, it will allow us to detect polarization or place a tight upper limit for about 10 pulsars and 20 blazars. In addition to measuring magnetic structures in these objects, LAMP will also enable us to discover bare quark stars if they exist, whose thermal emission is expected to be zero polarized, while the thermal emission from neutron stars is believed to be highly polarized due to plasma polarization and the quantum electrodynamics (QED) effect. Here we present an overview of the mission concept, its science objectives and simulated observational results.
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We describe a new implementation of a broad-band soft X-ray polarimeter, substantially based on a previous design. This implementation, the Pioneer Soft X-ray Polarimeter (PiSoX) is a SmallSat, designed for NASAs call for Astrophysics Pioneers, small missions that could be CubeSats, balloon experiments, or SmallSats. As in the REDSoX Polarimeter, the grating arrangement is designed optimally for the purpose of polarimetry with broad-band focussing optics by matching the dispersion of the spectrometer channels to laterally graded multilayers (LGMLs). The system can achieve polarization modulation factors over 90%. For PiSoX, the optics are lightweight Si mirrors in a one-bounce parabolic configuration. High efficiency, blazed gratings from opposite sectors are oriented to disperse to a LGML forming a channel covering the wavelength range from 35 to 75 Angstroms (165 - 350 eV). Upon satellite rotation, the intensities of the dispersed spectra, after reflection and polarizing by the LGMLs, give the three Stokes parameters needed to determine a sources linear polarization fraction and orientation. The design can be extended to higher energies as LGMLs are developed further. We describe examples of the potential scientific return from instruments based on this design.
The LAMP (Lightweight Asymmetry and Magnetism Probe) X-ray telescope is a mission concept to measure the polarization of X-ray astronomical sources at 250 eV via imaging mirrors that reflect at incidence angles near the polarization angle, i.e., 45 deg. Hence, it will require the adoption of multilayer coatings with a few nanometers d-spacing in order to enhance the reflectivity. The nickel electroforming technology has already been successfully used to fabricate the high angular resolution imaging mirrors of the X-ray telescopes SAX, XMM-Newton, and Swift/XRT. We are investigating this consolidated technology as a possible technique to manufacture focusing mirrors for LAMP. Although the very good reflectivity performances of this kind of mirrors were already demonstrated in grazing incidence, the reflectivity and the scattering properties have not been tested directly at the unusually large angle of 45 deg. Other possible substrates are represented by thin glass foils or silicon wafers. In this paper we present the results of the X-ray reflectivity campaign performed at the BEAR beamline of Elettra - Sincrotrone Trieste on multilayer coatings of various composition (Cr/C, Co/C), deposited with different sputtering parameters on nickel, silicon, and glass substrates, using polarized X-rays in the spectral range 240 - 290 eV.
The performance of the Time Projection Chamber (TPC) polarimeter for the Polarimeter for Relativistic Astrophysical X-ray Sources (PRAXyS) Small Explorer was evaluated using polarized and unpolarized X-ray sources. The PRAXyS mission will enable exploration of the universe through X-ray polarimetry in the 2-10 keV energy band. We carried out performance tests of the polarimeter at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, National Synchrotron Light Source (BNL-NSLS) and at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center. The polarimeter was tested with linearly polarized, monochromatic X-rays at 11 different energies between 2.5 and 8.0 keV. At maximum sensitivity, the measured modulation factors at 2.7, 4.5 and 8.0 keV are 27%, 43% and 59%, respectively and the measured angle of polarization is consistent with the expected value at all energies. Measurements with a broadband, unpolarized X-ray source placed a limit of less than 1% on false polarization in the PRAXyS polarimeter.
The Sun is the nearest astrophysical source with a very intense emission in the X-ray band. The study of energetic events, such as solar flares, can help us to understand the behaviour of the magnetic field of our star. There are in the literature numerous studies published about polarization predictions, for a wide range of solar flares models involving the emission from thermal and/or non-thermal processes, but observations in the X-ray band have never been exhaustive. The gas pixel detector (GPD) was designed to achieve X-ray polarimetric measurements as well as X-ray images for far astrophysical sources. Here we present the possibility to employ this instrument for the observation of our Sun in the X-ray band.
A soft X-ray, beam-splitting, multilayer optic has been developed for the Bragg Reflection Polarimeter (BRP) on the NASA Gravity and Extreme Magnetism Small Explorer Mission (GEMS). The optic is designed to reflect 0.5 keV X-rays through a 90 degree angle to the BRP detector, and transmit 2-10 keV X-rays to the primary polarimeter. The transmission requirement prevents the use of a thick substrate, so a 2 micron thick polyimide membrane was used. Atomic force microscopy has shown the membrane to possess high spatial frequency roughness less than 0.2 nm rms, permitting adequate X-ray reflectance. A multilayer thin film was especially developed and deposited via magnetron sputtering with reflectance and transmission properties that satisfy the BRP requirements and with near-zero stress. Reflectance and transmission measurements of BRP prototype elements closely match theoretical predictions, both before and after rigorous environmental testing.
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