Blazed gratings have been fabricated using gray-scale X-ray lithography. The gratings have high efficiency, low parasitic light, and high groove quality. The fabrication technique and resist characterization are described. The gratings can be generated over a considerable range of distances from the X-ray mask, thus demonstrating the ability to write gratings on a substrate of effectively arbit...

We present long-term observations of several VHE (E > 100 GeV) blazars with VERITAS, together with contemporaneous Swift and RXTE Xray data. The observed targets include Mrk 421, Mrk 501, 1ES 2344+514. Strong flux and spectral variability is seen in Mrk 421 on nightly time-scales between January and June 2008, revealing a highly correlated X-ray to GeV/TeV connection. Modest Xray variability is...

We briefly review BeppoSAX observations of X-ray bright radio-galaxies. Their Xray spectra are quite varied, and perhaps surprisingly, any similarity between radioloud AGN and Seyfert galaxies is the exception rather than the rule. When detected, reprocessing features (iron line and reflection) are generally weak, suggesting two possible scenarios: either: (1) non-thermal (jet?) radiation dilut...

This paper studies the price-quoting strategies used by a tier-two supplier, whose tier-one customers compete for an OEM’s indivisible contract. At most one of the tier-two supplier’s quotes will ultimately result in downstream contracting and hence produce revenue for her. We characterize the tier-two supplier’s optimal price-quoting strategies and show that she will use one of two possible ty...