Novel Optics for X-Ray Telescopes

Abstract Thermally formed thin glass foils and optically shaped Si wafers are con-sidered to be among the most promising technologies for future large space X-ray telescopes. We present and discuss the recent progress in these technologies, as well as the properties of test mirrors produced and tested. For both technologies, both flat and curved samples have been produced and tested. The achieved profile accuracy is of the order of 1 micrometer or better, while the bending technologies maintain the intrinsic fine surface microroughness of substrates (better than 0.5 nm for glass and around 0.1 nm for Si wafers). Keywords X–ray telescopes · X–ray optics · X–ray astronomy