Technology development for the Constellation-X hard-x-ray telescope

Abstract

In addition to high resolving power in the traditional x-ray band, the Constellation X-ray scientific goals require broad bandpass, with response extending to E ≳ 40 keV. To achieve this objective, Constellation-X will incorporate a hard x-ray telescope (HXT) based on depth graded multilayer- coated grazing incidence optics and position-sensitive solid state detectors. This paper describes the HXT performance requires, provides an overview of the HXT optics and detector technology development efforts, and present example designs