GSFC X-ray Interferometry Testbed

Overview

The NASA Goddard Space Flight Center X-ray Interferomtry Testbed is a 600 meter long vacuum system dedicated toward technology development for NASA's Black Hole Imager vision mission under the Beyond Einstein Roadmap.  Black Hole Imager will have the capability to resolve the event horizons of supermassive black holes in the X-ray bandpass sometime after 2025.  To achieve this goal, we will need to develop several technologies including interferometry at X-ray wavelengths.  The GSFC X-ray Interferometry Testbed allowss us to test these technologies.  An X-ray Source is positioned at one end of the 600 meter beamline.  Optical components to the interferometer are located 147 meters away from the source in a large vacuum chamber along the beamline.  The detector is located at the far end of the beamline.  The system is reconfigurable, so we can test other geometries as needed.

Location

The GSFC X-ray Interferometry Testbed is located at the Goddard Geophysics and Astronomy Observatory (GGAO or Area 200). This is a relatively remote location free of  much vibration that tends to affect our interferometry work. The figure below indicates the main campus as well as where the beamline is located.

Facility Pictures

The Source Building:



The Optics Building:



The view from the optics building toward the source:



The view from the optics toward the detector



Along the beamline toward the detector



Inside the Detector Building:

Near Term Goals

Fringes at the Iron K line (1.9 angstroms) by end of FY05.
Testing of Fresnel Lens at Copper K alpha by end of spring 05.

Beamline Safety

GSFC Form 23-28ID X-ray Source ID For Manson Source
GSFC Form 23-28ID X-ray Source ID for Moly Oxford Tube
GSFC Form 23-6ID: Source relocation Form
GSFC Form 23-6ID Source relocation special information

Links

NASA GSFC MAXIM Home Page

Beamline Status Page