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The future space X-ray astronomy imaging missions require very large collecting areas at still fine angular resolution and reasonable weight. The novel space Xray optics substrates such as Silicon wafers and thin thermally formed glass enable wide applications of precise and very light weight (volume densities 2.3 to 2.5 gcm-3) optics. The recent status of novel technologies as well as developed test samples with emphasis on precise optical surfaces based on novel materials and their space applications will be presented and discussed.

The future space X-ray astronomy imaging missions require very large collecting areas at still fine angular resolution and reasonable weight. The novel substrates for X-ray mirrors such as Silicon wafers and thin thermally formed glass enable wide applications of precise and very light weight (volume densities 2.3 to 2.5 gcm-3) optics. The recent status of novel technologies as well as developed test samples with emphasis on precise optical surfaces based on novel materials and their space applications is presented and discussed.

The LOBSTER telescopes are based on the optical arrangement of the lobster eye. The main difference from classical X-ray space telescopes in wide use is the very large field of view while the use of optics results in higher efficiency if compared with detectors without optics. Recent innovative technologies have enabled to design, to develop and to test first prototypes. They will provide deep sensitive survey of the sky in X-rays for the first time which is essential for both long-term monitoring of celestial high-energy sources as well as in understanding transient phenomena. The technology is now ready for applications in space.

We discuss the technological and scientific aspects of fully innovative very wide–field X–ray telescopes with high sensitivity. The prototypes of Lobster telescopes designed, developed and tested are very promising, allowing the proposals for space projects with very wide–field Lobster Eye X–ray optics to be considered for the first time. The novel telescopes will monitor the sky with unprecedented sensitivity and angular resolution of order of 1 arcmin. They are expected to contribute essentially to study of various astrophysical objects such as AGN, SNe, Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), X–ray flashes (XRFs), galactic binary sources, stars, CVs, X-ray novae, various transient sources, etc. For example, the Lobster optics based X-ray All Sky Monitor is capable to detect around 20 GRBs and 8 XRFs yearly and this will surely significantly contribute to the related science.

The thermally formed thin glass foils and optically shaped Si wafers are considered to belong to the most promising technologies for future large space X-ray telescopes. We present and discuss the recent progress in these technologies, as well as properties of test mirrors produced and tested.

Design and development of the multi-foil optic (MFO) condenser for a gas puff laser plasma source for EUV lithography is presented. The MFO in general is a soft x-ray optic which consists of two perpendicular sets of very thin reflecting surfaces, where photons are reflected at grazing angles. The aim of the work was to design the condenser working for ~100 eV photons focusing from point to point ~40 cm distant. Initial design and simulations are described and compared to early experiments performed in visible light. The performance of the optic over the initial requirements is discussed. We also briefly discuss several other MFO modifications, including condensers and collimators for laboratory purposes or the wide field x-ray scanning modules for satellite astronomy.

We developed a non-contact method for in-situ monitoring of the thermal slumping of glass and silicone foils to optimize this technology for the production of high quality mirrors for large aperture x-ray space telescopes. The telescope's crucial part is a high throughput, heavily nested mirror array with the angular resolution better than 5 arcsec. Its construction requires precise and light-weight segmented optics with surface micro-roughness on the order of 0.1 nm. Promising materials are glass or silicon foils shaped by thermal forming. The desired parameters can be achieved only through optimizing the slumping process. We monitored the slumping by taking the snapshots of the shapes every five minutes at constant temperature and the final shapes we measured with the Taylor Hobson profilometer. The shapes were parabolic and the deviations from a circle had the peak-to-valley values of 20-30 μm. The observed hot plastic deformation of the foils was controlled by viscous flow. We calculated and plotted the relations between the middle part deflection, viscosity, and heat-treatment time. These relations have been utilized for the development of a numerical model enabling computer simulation. By the simulation, we verify the material's properties and generate new data for the thorough optimization of the slumping process.

The ESA's invitation to participate in the innovative technology developments for the new space mission represents the natural continuation of the efforts of the Czech team in development of innovative X-ray telescopes, focusing on particular demands and requirements of a concrete project, with emphasis on fully new and light-weight technologies. In this paper we focus on studying of other alternative materials such as SiC or glassy carbon, which could be considered as suitable materials for the producing of precise light weight X-ray optics due to their physical and chemical properties and so far successfully compete with more common materials (like glass or Si) as well as on Si wafers with improved surface quality and analysis and evaluation of measured data.

Two experimental modules of small X-ray telescopes based on the Lobster eye X-ray optics are presented. These modules are regarded to use for x-ray astronomy applications in space. At this time, the optical tests of these modules have been performed. Results of these tests are presented.

The replication technology originally developed for astronomical X-ray optics can be also effectively applied for laboratory mirrors with small apertures, even below few mm. Grazing incidence micromirrors of ellipsoidal or parabolic shape with apertures below 1 mm have numerous potential applications in many areas of applied physics, molecular biology and material research, including synchrotron. One of the most important applications of such optics is in its combination with microfocus X-ray generator. Extremely intense collimated or focused high-quality X-ray beams from tabletop equipment can be obtained in this way. It is shown that though developed primarily for macromolecular crystallography, this combination gave excellent results also in other fields of science and technology. Computer raytracing and experimental data characterizing mirror and X-ray beam parameters in typical applications are also presented.

Future space X-ray astronomy and astrophysics projects require accurate but light and high throughput multiple nested X-ray optics. The Czech Republic started being the full member of ESA in November, 2008 and the participant in the innovative technology developments for the new space mission represents the natural continuation of the efforts of the Czech team in development of innovative X-ray telescopes, focusing on particular demands and requirements of a concrete project, with emphasis on fully new and light-weight technologies. We will report not only on silicon or glass but also on other alternative materials such as SiC or glossy carbon, which could be considered as suitable materials for the producing of precise light weight X-ray optics due to their physical and chemical properties.

Lobster eye optics, as a wide field of view imaging system, is perfectly suited for x-ray astronomy but can be useful also in the lab. This paper presents a brief overview of the technologies developed in our group, where the glass and silicon mirrors are used to built up the Schmidt lobster eye design and mainly discuss the mirror design consequences on the resulting imaging properties of the system. Corrections of various image distortions and imperfections, either geometric, spectral or temporal in case of scanning observations have to be applied in order to get a valuable instrument. Several image processing methods are discussed and its strengths and weaknesses are shown for both astronomy and laboratory experiments.

We report on recent progress with development of astronomical X-ray optics based on thermally formed glass foils and on bent Si wafers. Experiments with thermal glass forming have continued adding wider range of evaluated and optimized parameters. Recent efforts with Si wafers have been focused on their quality improvements such as flatness and thickness uniformity in order to better meet the requirements of future X-ray astronomy projects applications, as well as on study of their surface quality, defects analysis, and methods for its reproducible measurement. The role of substrates quality in performance of final mirror arrays, as required by large future space X-ray astronomy experiments was also studied.

According to the observational statistics a large majority of all GRBs exhibit X‐ray emission. In addition, a dedicated separate group of GRB, the XRFs, exists which emission dominates in the X‐ray spectral range. And the third group of GRB related objects (yet hypothetical) are the group of off‐axis observed GRBs (orphan afterglows). These facts justify the consideration of an independent experiment for monitoring, detection and analyses of GRBs and others fast X‐ray transients in X‐rays. We will present and discuss such experiment based on wide‐field X‐ray telescopes of Lobster Eye type. The wide field and fine sensitivity of Lobster Eye X‐ray All‐Sky Monitor make such instruments important tools in study of GRBs and related objects.

Laser plasma source in WAT, Poland, is used as the source of EUV radiation for lithography and illumination of biological samples. The source has to be equipped with a complementary condensor with the goal of having a higher peak intensity than using current systems and moreover with the ability to illuminate larger areas homogeneously. The work concentrates on the analysis and design process of the optics based on the known source parameters, namely typical spectra, angular and intensity distributions and other constraints. Further, the question of illuminating the samples via multi shot approach by shifting the sample is discussed and estimates on the optimal sample shift in between two shots are explained.

We report on recent progress with development of astronomical X-ray optics based on thermally formed glass foils and on bent Si wafers. Experiments with thermal glass forming have continued adding wider range of evaluated and optimized parameters. Recent efforts with Si wafers have been focused on their quality improvements such as flatness and thickness uniformity in order to better meet the requirements of future X-ray astronomy projects applications, as well as on study of their surface quality, defects analysis, and methods for its reproducible measurement. The role of substrates quality in performance of final mirror arrays, as required by large future space X-ray astronomy experiments was also studied. The problem of increasing size of Si wafers, required for some X-ray optics applications, is also addressed. First results of irradiation tests of selected substrates are also reported and discussed.

The precisely shaped glass sheets and Si wafers are generally considered as the most promising substrates for future large space astronomical X-ray telescopes. Both approaches have demonstrated promising results obtained in the course of last years. In this contribution, we report on continued systematic efforts and analysis in precise shaping of thin glass sheets as well as Si wafers. New results will be briefly presented and discussed. For Si wafers, recent efforts focus also on improving the intrinsic quality of the slices to better meet the high requirements of future space projects.

Replicated multilayers inside the rotationally symmetric x-ray mirrors with diameter 0.5-4 mm are being investigated. While the replicated Micromirror technology as well as replicated multilayers on the planar surface were already studied, we present here the combination of both technologies. Initial simulations and development of metrology of multilayers inside small cavities are described, as well as very first results of experiments.

We present the recent progress in high intensity micro focused EUV beam generation. Ellipsoidal thin glass foils were used in Multi-foil optical systems for focusing radiation in 50 eV to 150 eV energy band from gas-puff laser plasma source. Multifoil optic (MFO) condenser was designed and tested for applications with Xe laser plasma gas-puff source. High intensity EUV beam focal spot was recorded, analyzed and compared with theoretical results from computer ray-tracing. Direct EUV lithography using radiation induced decomposition and ablation of TEFLON was studied.

The thermally formed thin glass foils and optically shaped Si wafers are considered to belong to the most promising technologies for future large space X-ray telescopes. We present and discuss the recent progress in these technologies, as well as properties of test mirrors produced and tested. For both technologies, both flat and curved samples have been produced and tested. The achieved profile accuracy is of order of 1 micrometer or better, while the bending technologies maintain the intrinsic fine surface microroughness of substrates (better than 0.5 nm for glass and around 0.1 nm for Si wafers).

We present a review of a hybrid Lobster optic built up of a mixture of standard Lobster Eye geometry and parabolically bent mirrors. This design has better angular resolution in one direction while still having a wide field of view in the other. We have performed some computer simulations and comparisons with standard LE optic, hence we can discuss the advantages and/or disadvantages of such design as well as possible operating modes, especially in the case of X-ray all-sky monitor. Additionally, we are going to show first laboratory samples of parabolically bent mirrors for hybrid lobster array which were produced using several different technologies.

The future large space X-ray telescopes in study (such as the ESAs XEUS) require novel approaches and innovative lightweight technologies. Although there are several alternative possibilities, in general the shaped thin glass foils and shaped Si wafers are considered to belong to the most promising ones. We present and discuss the recent progress in these technologies, as well as properties of test mirrors produced and tested. For both technologies, both flat and curved samples have been produced and tested. The achieved profile accuracy is of order of 1 micrometer or better, while the bending technologies maintain the intrinsic fine surface microroughness of substrates (better than 0.5 nm).

We report on innovative X-ray mirror technologies with focus on requirements of future X-ray astronomy space projects. Various future projects in X-ray astronomy and astrophysics will require large light-weight but highly accurate segments with multiple thin shells or foils. The large Wolter 1 grazing incidence multiple mirror arrays, the Kirkpatrick-Baez modules, as well as the large Lobster-Eye X-ray telescope modules in Schmidt arrangement may serve as examples. All these space projects will require high quality and light segmented shells (shaped, bent or flat foils) with high X-ray reflectivity and excellent mechanical stability.

Compound refractive lens (CRL), consisting of a number of in-line placed concave microlenses made of low-Z material, is a unique imaging X-ray device. An experiment combining the CRL manufactured by the method described in [1] and working as an objective with the reflective micromirror as ta condenser and X-ray microfocus source is presented. The system was used as an X-ray microscope working at 8 keV X-rays and also for demonstration of demagnified imaging.