Dr. P. S. Athiray

X-ray imaging and spectroscopy provides unique capabilities for answering fundamental questions in solar physics and lunar geochemistry. One of the outstanding questions in solar physics is to observationally determine how the plasma is heated in coronal structures such as AR core loops? Despite decades of observations in EUV and X-rays, the answer to this question is still elusive as existing solar observatories are sensitive for plasma cooling and could not provide discriminating observations. Therefore, next generation space instrumentation with high temperature diagnostics is the “smoking gun” observation required to constrain heating events. X-ray regime is dominated with high temperature diagnostics which are not easily accessible by other means. Mapping the chemical composition of the top layer of lunar surface yield insights into its geochemical evolution and help in understanding the formation of the Moon. X-ray spectroscopy offers one of the best methods to probe into the surface chemistry of the Moon including the mapping of minor and moderately volatile elements such as Na, which is challenging to study using other wave bands. In this talk I will motivate the need for future high resolution X-ray instrumentation development for solar and lunar research. I will demonstrate my contribution to the development, testing and calibration of X-ray instruments for the NASA funded sounding rocket experiments FOXSI* and MaGIXS**, and the Indian Moon mission Chandrayaan-1, Chandrayaan-2. I will emphasize the need for precise instrument characterization and show how critical it is to perform meaningful science from the flight data. At the end I will describe some of the novel instrumentation ideas, I wish to pursue in my future research career. * - Focusing Optics X-ray Solar Imager. ** - Marshall Grazing Incidence X-ray Spectrometer. Please click this link to attend this online seminar :https://iucaa-in.zoom.us/j/98854572341?pwd=VWVsTDY3VVQ4aDZBdzBmZVh0eitiUT09