On the performance of optical filters for the XMM focal plane CCD-camera EPIC

Optical filters have been developed for the X-ray astronomy project XMM (X-ray Multi Mirror Mission) [1] of ESA, where specific CCDs will serve as focal plane cameras on board the observatory. These detectors are sensitive from the X-ray to the NIR (near infrared) spectral region. For observations in X-ray astronomy an optical filter must be placed in front of the CCD, suppressing visible and UV (ultraviolet) radiation of stars by more than 6 orders of magnitude while being highly transparent at photon energies above 100 eV. The flight model filter is designed to have an effective area of 73 mm diameter without making use of a supporting grid. Efforts have been made to utilize plastic foils to tailor filters meeting these specific requirements. It was found, that a typical filter could be composed, e.g., of a polypropylene foil of 20 μg/cm2 thickness serving as a carrier, coated with metallic films of Al or Al and Sn of about 20–25 μg/cm2 thickness. Other possible carriers are polycarbonate (Lexan, Macrolon) and poly-para-xylylene (Parylene N) films of similar thicknesses. The preparation and characterization of these three types of carrier foils as well as of two sample filters is described, including mechanical tests as well as optical transmission measurements in the photon energy range from 1 eV to 2 keV