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Before (top) and after 150 hours of annealing (bottom) on different length scales (left to right). It can be seen that the surface roughness measured using Atomic Force Microscopy is significantly reduced over a wide range of length scales. Credit: Tokyo Metropolitan University A team led by scientists from Tokyo Metropolitan University has created an unprecedented lightweight optic for an X-ray space telescope, breaking the traditional trade-off between angular resolution and weight. They used Micro Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) technology, creating intricate patterns in silicon wafers that can direct and collect X-rays. By annealing and polishing, they realized ultra-sharp features that could rival the performance of existing telescopes for a fraction of their weight, at significantly lower launch costs. X-ray astronomy is a vital tool that helps scientists study and classify various celestial bodies that emit and interact with X-rays, i...

Tokyo, Japan – A team led by scientists from Tokyo Metropolitan University has created unprecedented light optics for X-ray space telescopes, breaking the traditional trade-off between angular resolution and weight. They used Micro Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) technology, creating intricate patterns into silicon wafers that can direct and collect X-rays. By annealing and polishing, they realized ultra-sharp features that could rival the performance of existing telescopes for a fraction of their weight, at significantly lower launch costs. X-ray astronomy provides a vital tool that helps scientists study and classify various celestial bodies that emit and interact with X-rays, including our planet. But there’s something interesting: most of the X-ray radiation is absorbed in our atmosphere, which means that telescopes and detectors have to be launched into space. With this comes various limitations, in particular, how heavy the device can be. One of the main features of all...