Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

Arjan L Mieremet

Publications and source records attributed to Arjan L Mieremet.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

Fundamental spatial resolution of an x-ray pore optic.

We investigate the fundamental spatial resolution of an x-ray pore optic as a function of the pore dimensions, the photon energy, and the focal length. We achieve this by calculating the shape of the focal spot, using diffraction integrals such that the half-energy width is determined. Quantitative results are presented for the X-Ray Evolving Universe Spectroscopy (XEUS) telescope, showing that a resolution of better than 2 arc sec half-energy width is possible by use of an optic with pore sizes of approximately 0.5 mm.

Journal Article↗

Deep nulling by means of multiple-beam recombination.

Direct detection of exoplanets is possible by use of a technique called nulling interferometry, which is based on destructive interference of light of the bright object and constructive interference of the faint object. In the infrared wavelength region, this implies that light of a star must be attenuated by a certain factor, the so-called rejection ratio, which typically equals 10(6). This can be achieved by use of phase shifters, which apply a phase shift of pi rad with an average error nogreater than 2 mradover a predefined wavelength region. For a 6-18-microm wavelength interval, this is a tough constraint. We show that the 2-mrad constraint can be relaxed if more than two beams participate in the beam recombination. We focus our attention on dispersive phase shifters and show that rejection ratios beyond 10(6) can be reached easily by use of a system of four or more apertures and simple dispersive phase shifters that consist of only one material.

Journal Article↗

Nulling interferometry without achromatic phase shifters.

In the infrared wavelength region, a typical star is approximately a million times brighter than the planet that surrounds it, which is a major problem when we attempt to detect exoplanets in a direct manner. Nulling interferometry is a technique that one can use to solve this problem by attenuating the stellar light and enhancing that of the planet. Generally, deep nulling is achieved by use of achromatic phase shifters (APSs). Unfortunately, the technology needed to build these APSs is not yet fully developed. We show that deep nulling can also be achieved by using delay lines only. We investigate the nulling depth as a function of the width of the wavelength interval and the number of telescopes. We also show that we can obtain nulling depths of less than 10(-6), which are required for exoplanet detection. Furthermore, we investigate the properties of the transmission map and make a comparison between our system and an APS system.

Journal Article↗