Development of blocking filters using high throughput SiC grids

Several of the proposed Astrophysics probe missions, that will be selected for Phase A in early 2025, have baselined soft X-ray imaging using cooled detectors (AXIS, LEM, and HEX-P). Past orbital missions, such as Chandra, have shown how contamination accumulation on their blocking filters can impact instrument performance. The Chandra ACIS lost 25% of its 0.66 keV signal in one year and over 95% over 19 years, with the accumulation rates being 100 times higher than pre-flight estimates. The ability to mitigate this contamination build-up on future missions is essential to ensure the instrument's performance is stable over multiple years. Contamination can be reduced by warming a filter through its frame if the heat conduction is sufficient; therefore, the proposed probe class missions include contamination reduction plans that call for blocking filters that are held above the gettering threshold, e.g. 300K for LEM. This poses a problem, as with the larger and more closely spaced filters required for the next generation of soft X-ray probe missions, the support grids must be thinner. This causes the grids to become more fragile, lose thermal conductance, and complicates thermal management (a risk cited by the Athena team). SiC grids offer a drop-in replacement for existing filters, but with many benefits. SiC boasts superior thermal conductivity, hardness, and rupture strength compared to traditional materials like Steel/Au or silicon. These grids will alleviate known deficiencies of current and planned filters. A key performance goal of blocking filter technology as part of microcalorimeter instruments is to provide infrared and optical photon blocking without the filter acting as a contamination trap (as seen on the Chandra ACIS). Missions that employ cooled imagers such as CCDs and CMOS cameras, not just microcalorimeter arrays, would benefit from a blocking filter that could offer contamination control, such as those based on SiC grids. Over the coming decades, this technological development would benefit many planned and proposed missions. Missions with cold detectors, such as the Athena X-IFU and WFI and several of the proposed probe missions (LEM, STROBE-X, AXIS, HEX-P), will benefit from the high thermal conductance of the SiC grids. This proposal seeks to delve deeper into the performance evaluation of filters incorporating SiC grids. The objective is to elevate the SiC grid's technology readiness level and mitigate potential risks associated with using filters based on these grids in future X-ray observatories. The research plan encompasses X-ray transmission experiments, temperature gradient measurements, vibration testing, and thermal cycling assessments to comprehensively characterize and optimize the SiC grid-based filters for enhanced reliability and functionality in demanding space environments.

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