Electrical connections and driving electronics for piezo-actuated x-ray thin glass optics

Abstract

Use of thin glass modular optics is a technology currently under study to build light, low cost, large area X-ray telescopes for high energy astrophysics space missions. The angular resolution of such telescopes is limited by local deviations from the ideal shape of the mirrors. One possible strategy to improve it consists in actively correcting the mirror profile by gluing thin ceramic piezo-electric actuators on the back of the glasses. A large number of actuators, however, requires several electrical connections to drive them with the different needed voltages. We have developed a process for depositing conductive paths directly on the back of non-planar thin foil mirrors by means of a photolithographic process, combined with metal thin film evaporation and selective removal. We have also designed and built a modular multichannel electronic driver with each module capable of driving simultaneously up to 16 actuators with a very low power consumption. Here we present our electrical interconnections technology and the solutions adopted in the implementation of the electronics.