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X-ray Diffraction Gratings for Astrophysics

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Abstract

Over the past year, we have celebrated the tenth anniversary of the Chandra and XMM-Newton X-ray observatories. Both carry powerful, novel diffraction grating spectrometers, which have opened true X-ray spectroscopy for astrophysics. I will describe the design and operation of these instruments, as the background to some of the beautiful results they have produced. But these designs do not exhaust the versatility and essential simplicity of diffraction grating spectrometers, and I will discuss applications for the International X-ray Observatory IXO.

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Correspondence to Frits Paerels.

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Paerels, F. X-ray Diffraction Gratings for Astrophysics. Space Sci Rev 157, 15–24 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-010-9719-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-010-9719-y

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