Developing a second generation Laue lens prototype: high reflectivity crystals and accurate assembly

TL;DR

This paper reports progress in developing a second-generation Laue lens prototype with high reflectivity crystals and precise assembly, aiming to significantly improve gamma-ray telescope sensitivity for astrophysical observations.

Contribution

It introduces new methods for obtaining efficient high-energy crystals and accurately assembling them onto a substrate, advancing Laue lens technology.

Findings

Successful orientation and gluing of crystals with a few arcseconds accuracy.

Prototype assembly demonstrates feasibility of dense packing for high-energy diffraction.

Preliminary results show potential for enhanced gamma-ray telescope performance.

Abstract

Laue lenses are an emerging technology that will enhance gamma-ray telescope sensitivity by one to two orders of magnitude in selected energy bands of the \sim 100 keV to \sim 1.5 MeV range. This optic would be particularly well adapted to the observation of faint gamma ray lines, as required for the study of Supernovae and Galactic positron annihilation. It could also prove very useful for the study of hard X-ray tails from a variety of compact objects, especially making a difference by providing sufficient sensitivity for polarization to be measured by the focal plane detector. Our group has been addressing the two key issues relevant to improve performance with respect to the first generation of Laue lens prototypes: obtaining large numbers of efficient crystals and developing a method to fix them with accurate orientation and dense packing factor onto a substrate. We present preliminary results of an on-going study aiming to enable a large number of crystals suitable for diffraction at energies above 500 keV. In addition, we show the first results of the Laue lens prototype assembled using our beamline at SSL/UC Berkeley, which demonstrates our ability to orient and glue crystals with accuracy of a few arcsec, as required for an efficient Laue lens telescope.