AbstractWe present a process for thermal forming of thin glass panels of borosilicate glass to produce mirror segments for X-ray telescope optics. The mirror segments are required to be shaped in a parabolic and hyperbolic shape in accordance with Wolter-I type design of X-ray telescope optics. Thermal forming of glass is a low-cost method to produce light-weight mirror segments. The process makes use of a semi-cylindrical quartz mold having surface roughness of the order of 1 nm. Flat glass sheets of 0.2 mm and 0.3 mm thickness are placed on the diametric edges of the mold. With a suitable thermal cycle, the glass sheets are thermally formed as per the shape of the mold. The shape of these formed glass sheets was measured using a non-contact optical setup. The surface quality measurements of the formed glass sheets were performed using atomic force microscope and they were found to be in the range of 0.04–0.33 nm. Once tested for acceptance, these glass sheets are coated using sputter deposition of multi-layers of high and low atomic number materials for hard X-ray reflection. Such mirror segments do not require polishing of the surface before being coated with multi-layers.

中文翻译：

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用于硬 X 射线望远镜光学系统的薄玻璃板的热成型

摘要我们提出了一种热成型硼硅玻璃薄玻璃板的工艺，以生产用于 X 射线望远镜光学器件的镜段。根据 X 射线望远镜光学系统的 Wolter-I 型设计，反射镜段需要成形为抛物线和双曲线形状。玻璃的热成型是一种生产轻质镜面的低成本方法。该工艺使用表面粗糙度为 1 nm 数量级的半圆柱形石英模具。0.2 毫米和 0.3 毫米厚的平板玻璃板放置在模具的直径边缘上。通过合适的热循环，玻璃板根据模具的形状热成型。使用非接触式光学装置测量这些成形玻璃板的形状。使用原子力显微镜对成型玻璃板的表面质量进行测量，发现它们在 0.04-0.33 nm 的范围内。一旦通过验收测试，这些玻璃板就会使用多层高和低原子序数材料的溅射沉积进行镀膜，以实现硬 X 射线反射。这种镜段在涂上多层之前不需要对表面进行抛光。