ESA – Radiation Testing of Optical Coatings – ESA Science & Technology

Enabling & Support

14/07/20220 views0 likes

Developing new and innovative instrumentation, able to withstand new harsh and extreme environments is vital to future space exploration. Optical coated elements are often optimised for their performance characteristics, such as their transparency or reflectivity in a desired spectral region. Radiation in space, especially low energy electrons and ions are considered some of the most likely and critical sources of damage for optical components and coatings. The optical performance of the components strongly affects the data outcomes, and their degradation can lead to a misinterpretation

of the scientific data. In extreme scenarios, the failure of a component can affect the operational capacity of the whole instrument. An activity with GSTP and the National Research Council of Italy Institute for Photonics and Nanotechnologies has sought to investigate exactly how radiation might affect these coatings and how these degradations can be prevented from happening. The activity tested how different coatings react to radiation exposure, building a detailed protocol for how to prevent damage from occurring and finally developed a radiation robust component that the protocols could be tested on.

The developed testing procedures include assessing the robustness of optical components against the operational environment, which is pivotal to preventing in-flight failures and to manufacture coatings that can withstand. The activity studied a representative family of coatings that is already widely employed in space instrumentation. These coatings were systematically irradiated with low energy protons, He ions and electrons. The optical characteristics of the coating were assessed before and after irradiation to precisely estimate the damage threshold for each type of sample and the post-irradiation condition.

Morphological and scattering analysis on the post-irradiation samples was carried out to investigate the specific ways they were damaged and to propose eventual strategies for avoiding their failure. Tests and analysis performed on the irradiated samples determined the damage threshold for many different coatings. The results will potentially serve as a first-level analysis for some of the optical components on board of the ESA JUICE mission. G617-234MM closed in 2021

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ESA - Radiation Testing of Optical Coatings - ESA Science & Technology