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ACTA AERONAUTICAET ASTRONAUTICA SINICA ›› 2023, Vol. 44 ›› Issue (3): 527124-527124.doi: 10.7527/S1000-6893.2022.27124

• Articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Focusing optics for intensity-correlated measurement of pulsar angular position

Fuchang ZUO1(), Zhiwu MEI1, Loulou DENG1, Hao ZHOU1, Xiaomin BEI2, Yueming LI1   

  1. 1.Beijing Institute of Control Engineering,Beijing 100190,China
    2.Qian Xuesen Laboratory of Space Technology,China Academy of Space Technology,Beijing 100194,China
  • Received:2022-03-08 Revised:2022-04-02 Accepted:2022-05-06 Online:2023-02-15 Published:2022-05-19
  • Contact: Fuchang ZUO E-mail:zfch-2004@163.com
  • Supported by:
    National Key R&D Program of China(2017YFB0503300)

Abstract:

Pulsar navigation provides a possible approach for deep space exploration and navigation in the future. To establish high-precision space-time datum system and improve pulsar navigation accuracy, the X-ray intensity correlation method can be adopted to realize high-precision measurement of the pulsar angular position. As the critical component of pulsar measurement and exploration instruments, the X-ray optics concentrates the weak X-ray signal from the pulsar through high-efficiency and high-resolution focusing, thus increasing the sensitivity of the instrument. Firstly, according to the ground experiment requirements of intensity-correlated measurement of pulsar angular position, the optical design of the multi-layer nested X-ray focusing optics was carried out. The effects of design parameters on the effective area and angular resolution were obtained, and the geometric parameters and reflection surface material of the mirrors were determined. Secondly, the overall manufacturing error standard for the focusing optics was determined, and the high-, low- and mid-frequency errors were allocated. Subsequently, ultra-smooth mandrels and mirrors were fabricated with the electroforming nickel replication process. The roughness and figure error of mandrels were tested, and the reflectivity of mirrors was measured with Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility. Finally, an in-situ alignment setup was built to precisely assemble and align the multi-layer nested mirrors to increase the effective area. The angular resolution of the focusing optics was measured to be 12.16". The intensity-correlated measurement experiment shows that the focusing optics significantly increases the number of photons received by the detector, thus satisfying the requirements for intensity-correlated measurement of pulsar angular position.

Key words: pulsar angular position, intensity-correlated measurement, X-ray focusing optics, error allocation, fabrication and alignment

CLC Number: