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The Beam Expander Testing X-ray facility (BEaTriX) is a unique X-ray apparatus now operated at the Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF), Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera (OAB), in Merate, Italy. It has been specifically designed to measure the point spread function (PSF) and the effective area (EA) of the X-ray mirror modules (MMs) of the Advanced Telescope for High-ENergy Astrophysics (ATHENA), based on silicon pore optics (SPO) technology, for verification before integration into the mirror assembly. To this end, BEaTriX generates a broad, uniform, monochromatic, and collimated X-ray beam at 4.51 keV. [...] In BEaTriX, a micro-focus X-ray source with a titanium anode is placed in the focus of a paraboloidal mirror, which generates a parallel beam. A crystal monochromator selects the 4.51 keV line, which is expanded to the final size by a crystal asymmetrically cut with respect to the crystalline planes. [...] After characterization, the BEaTriX beam has the nominal dimensions of 170 mm x 60 mm, with a vertical divergence of 1.65 arcsec and a horizontal divergence varying between 2.7 and 3.45 arcsec, depending on the monochromator setting: either high collimation or high intensity. The flux per area unit varies from 10 to 50 photons/s/cm2 from one configuration to the other. The BEaTriX beam performance was tested using an SPO MM, whose entrance pupil was fully illuminated by the expanded beam, and its focus was directly imaged onto the camera. The first light test returned a PSF and an EA in full agreement with expectations. As of today, the 4.51 keV beamline of BEaTriX is operational and can characterize modular X-ray optics, measuring their PSF and EA with a typical exposure of 30 minutes. [...] We expect BEaTriX to be a crucial facility for the functional test of modular X-ray optics, such as the SPO MMs for ATHENA., Accepted on 29 June 2022 for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics, Sect. 13, Astronomical instrumentation of Astronomy and Astrophysics. Version after language correction

ATHENA (Advanced Telescope for High-ENergy Astrophysics) is the next high-energy astrophysical mission of the European Space Agency currently planned to be launched in the early 2030s, as part of its Cosmic Vision program, on the scientific topic of “Hot and Energetic Universe”. The optics technology is based on the Silicon Pore Optics (SPO). About 678 SPO mirror modules will have to be integrated and co-aligned onto the optical bench of the Mirror Assembly Module (MAM) of ATHENA. This activity will have to be completed in about two years. Media Lario leads an industrial and scientific team that has developed the process to align and integrate the SPO Mirror module with an accuracy better than 1 arcsec. The process is based on position of the centroid of the point spread function produced by each mirror module when illuminated by a collimated planewave at 218 nm taken at 12 m focal length. Experimental tests, using two SPO mirror modules, and correlation with X-ray measurement at the PANTER test facility in Munich have demonstrated that this process meets the accuracy requirement. It was also demonstrated, that a mirror module can be removed again from the MAM, and re-installed, without compromising the adjacent mirror modules. This technique allows arbitrary integration sequence and integration of two Mirror Modules per day. Moreover, it enables monitoring the telescope point spread function during the whole integration phase.

The construction of the BEaTriX facility is ongoing at INAF/OAB. The facility will generate a broad (170 x 60 mm2), uniform and lowdivergent (1.5 arcsec HEW) X-ray beam within a small lab (~ 9 x 18m2, see Fig. 7), using an X-ray microfocus source, a paraboloidal mirror, a crystal monochromation system with simmetrically cut crystals, and an asymmetrically-cut crystal for beam expansion. The facility is designed to operate at 1.49 keV and 4.51 keV. These properties, in addition to the copious flux of the source (1011-1012 ph/sec/sterad), a moderate vacum level of 10-3 mbar, and a modular vacuum approach, will enable the testing of the Silicon Pore Optics modules of the ATHENA telescope at the rate of 3 MM/day, following production.

We summarize the inflight performance of JEM-X, the X-ray monitor on the INTEGRAL mission during the initial ten months of operations. The JEM-X instruments have now been tuned to stable operational conditions. The performance is found to be close to the pre-launch expectations. The ground calibrations and the inflight calibration data permit to determine the instruments characteristics to fully support the scientific data analysis. Reglero Velasco, Victor, Victor.Reglero@uv.es ; Martinez Nuñez, Silvia, Silvia.Martinez@uv.es

A development of X-ray sensitive microcalorimeter arrays is presently being undertaken to provide a spectroimager of high-energy resolution which could fit the focal plane of the X-ray astronomy spatial missions of the new generation (ESLAB 1999/093/SA). The infrared-sensitive arrays which have been realized at LETI in collaboration with the SAp, for the PACS experiment on board the Herschel satellite (Proceedings of the SPIE Conference of Orlando, 5–9 April 1999, 3698-38), are taken as the basis of this development which will rely conservatively on standard technology.

A laboratory system with a crystal concentrator for focusing γ-rays has been developed. The facility has been designed in particular for tests of diffraction systems based on small crystals in the Bragg and Laue configurations. Two radioactive sources (Co-57 and Ba-133) are being used to cover the energy range from 30 to 400 keV. The diffracted beam is detected using Germanium (HPGe) and CdZnTe detectors. We report on the preliminary characterization of crystal mosaicities for different crystals.

We describe the X-ray facility developed for the calibration of the X-ray monitor JEM-X on board the INTEGRAL satellite. The apparatus allowed the scanning of the detector geometric area with a pencil beam of desired energy over the major part of the passband of the instrument. The monochromatic radiation is obtained with the use of a double crystal monochromator at fixed exit. We discuss the facility performance.