| The Reflection Grating Spectrometer on board the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton Observatory is the main subject of the thesis. It was designed to provide high-throughput, high-resolution spectroscopy in the soft X-ray band of 5 to 35 A. The primary optical component is the Reflection Grating Array. The individual gratings were extensively calibrated at Columbia University's Nevis Laboratories. The grating array was assembled at Nevis and then calibrated as part of the integrated spectrometer at the Panter X-ray Test Facility. A description of the instrument calibration will be presented.;The spectrometer is characterized by a full physical model. The physical model of the spectral reflectivity of the gratings will be described. It is based on the vector solution to Maxwell's equations, and it successfully reproduces the ground calibration data. The grating model is included with the physical models of each component along the optical path to construct the effective area model of the full spectrometer. The effective area model and comparisons with the ground and in-flight calibration data will also be described.;The Reflection Grating Spectrometer can be used for high-resolution spectroscopy of X-ray emitting plasmas in a range of astophysical settings. The discrete features in the observed spectra are sensitive to the physical conditions of the emitting plasma. These features can therefore be used to quantitatively measure the temperature, density, velocity, and geometry of the material. This thesis will describe the application of high-resolution spectroscopy to the study of accretion-powered sources. The spectral analysis of two low-mass X-ray binaries will be presented. The first is EXO 0748-67, which was observed with XMM-Newton. The second is 4U 1822-37, which was observed with the Chandra X-ray Observatory. |
