Imaging characteristics of the development model of the SAX x-ray imaging concentrators

A development model of the X-ray imaging concentrators designed for the Italian satellite for X-ray astronomy (SAX) was used to verify the thermomechanical and imaging properties of the optical system. The development model has a set of 29 mirrors (of the total of 30 mirrors of SAX), which are representative of the final mirrors except for the microroughness, which is about 3 nm instead of less than 1 nm. Results are presented of the optical system tests with low-energy X-ray beam (E = 0.27 KeV) and with visible light.