Polarization aberration analysis of the advanced x-ray astrophysics facility telescope assembly.

The advanced x-ray astrophysics facility (AXAF) telescope consists of six concentric paraboloid-hyperboloid pairs of mirrors that operate near grazing incidence. Because of the substantial polarization effects at large angles of incidence there has been concern regarding the feasibility of doing polarimetry near the telescope focal plane. The primary mirror is shown to act as a tangentially directed half-wave linear retarder and to almost completely depolarize the linearly polarized component of the light. The secondary mirror introduces an additional half-wave of linear retardance. The two-mirror telescope assembly acts as a tangentially directed one-wave linear retarder. Each mirror depolarizes alone but together the two-mirror assembly preserves the polarization state. The net instrumental polarization effects are small and polarimetry is feasible with AXAF.The polarization aberration function for the telescope is derived by using Jones calculus. Polarization aberration functions are used to calculte the effect of instrumental polarization on the transmitted wave front and the polarization state that is due to the primary mirror and the telescope assembly.

[1]  R. Chipman.  Polarization analysis of optical systems , 1989 .

[2]  W. Werner,et al.  Imaging properties of Wolter I type x-ray telescopes. , 1977, Applied optics.

[3]  Harvey Tananbaum.  The Advanced X‐Ray Astrophysics Facility a , 1986 .

[4]  J. Underwood,et al.  Optical Design of a Glancing Incidence X-ray Telescope. , 1969, Applied optics.

[5]  Asher Peres,et al.  Gravitational radiation damping of nongravitational motion , 1960 .

[6]  Eugene Waluschka.  Polarization Ray Trace , 1989 .

[7]  J D Mangus.  Optical design of glancing incidence extreme ultraviolet telescopes. , 1970, Applied optics.

[8]  Riccardo Giacconi,et al.  Grazing-incidence telescopes for X-ray astronomy , 1969 .

[9]  R. Chase,et al.  Design Parameters of Paraboloid-Hyperboloid Telescopes for X-ray Astronomy. , 1972, Applied optics.

[10]  L. V. Speybroeck.  Grazing incidence optics for the U.S. High-Resolution X-Ray Astronomy Program. , 1988 .

[11]  Russell A. Chipman,et al.  Polarization Analysis Of Optical Systems , 1988, Photonics West - Lasers and Applications in Science and Engineering.

[12]  K. Nariai,et al.  Geometric aberration of a generalized Wolter type I telescope. 2: Analytical study. , 1988, Applied optics.

[13]  K. Nariai,et al.  Geometrical aberration of a generalized Wolter type I telescope. , 1987, Applied optics.

[14]  Russell A. Chipman.  Polarization Ray Tracing , 1987, Photonics West - Lasers and Applications in Science and Engineering.

[15]  Russell A. Chipman,et al.  Analysis of spatial pseudodepolarizers in imaging systems , 1990 .

[16]  B Newnam,et al.  Optical constants for thin films of Ti, Zr, Nb, Mo, Ru, Rh, Pd, Ag, Hf, Ta, W, Re, Ir, Os, Pt, and Au from 24 A to 1216 A. , 1988, Applied optics.

[17]  P Z Takacs,et al.  Optical constants for thin films of C, diamond, Al, Si, and CVD SIC from 24 A to 1216 A. , 1988, Applied optics.

[18]  T T Saha,et al.  Transverse ray aberrations for paraboloid-hyperboloid telescopes. , 1985, Applied optics.

[19]  R. Chipman,et al.  Diffraction image formation in optical systems with polarization aberrations. II: Amplitude response matrices for rotationally symmetric systems , 1991 .

[20]  D Korsch,et al.  Primary aberrations for grazing incidence. , 1977, Applied optics.

[21]  Hans Wolter,et al.  Verallgemeinerte Schwarzschildsche Spiegelsysteme streifender Reflexion als Optiken für Röntgenstrahlen , 1952 .

[22]  H. Wolter.  Spiegelsysteme streifenden Einfalls als abbildende Optiken für Röntgenstrahlen , 1952 .

[23]  H. F. Tschunko,et al.  Imaging performance of annular apertures. , 1974, Applied optics.

[24]  Martin V. Zombeck,et al.  Advanced X-Ray Astrophysics Facility (AXAF)- Performance Requirements And Design Considerations , 1979, Other Conferences.

[25]  Russell A. Chipman,et al.  Diffraction image formation in optical systems with polarization aberrations. I - Formulation and example , 1990 .