A facility for soft proton irradiation of X-ray detectors and instrument testing for future space missions

Orbital soft protons (from tens of keV to a few MeV) can seriously degrade the performance of astronomical X-ray detectors. This paper briefly describes an irradiation setup for large detectors at the accelerator facility of the University of Tubingen. Main advantages are a high flux uniformity over a large area as well as a precise monitoring system for the applied spectrum and fluence. Recent modifications of this setup that enable measurements of the small angle scattering efficiency of Wolter-type X-ray mirror shells are presented.