Development status of the LAUE project

Frontera, F.; Virgilli, Enrico; Liccardo, Vincenzo; Valsan, Vineeth; Carassiti, V.; Chiozzi, S.; Evangelisti, F.; Squerzanti, S.; Statera, M.; Guidi, V.; Ferrari, C.; Zappettini, A.; Caroli, E.; Auricchio, N.; Silvestri, S.; Camattari, Riccardo; Cassese, Francesco Peluso; Recanatesi, L.; Pecora, M.; Mottini, Sergio; Negri, B.

doi:10.1117/12.926378

Cited by 12 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…For example, in the case of a balloon, the focal length must not exceed a few meters [16]. If the lens is launched through a satellite, the focal length may be up to 20 m [17,18]. Finally, in case of two satellites flying in formation, the focal length may be up to 100 m [19,20].…”

Section: The Lauegen Algorithmmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic algorithm to design Laue lenses with optimal performance for focusing hard X- andγ-rays

Camattari

Guidi

2014

A&A

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To focus hard X-and γ-rays it is possible to use a Laue lens as a concentrator. With this optics it is possible to improve the detection of radiation for several applications, from the observation of the most violent phenomena in the sky to nuclear medicine applications for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. We implemented a code named LaueGen, which is based on a genetic algorithm and aims to design optimized Laue lenses. The genetic algorithm was selected because optimizing a Laue lens is a complex and discretized problem. The output of the code consists of the design of a Laue lens, which is composed of diffracting crystals that are selected and arranged in such a way as to maximize the lens performance. The code allows managing crystals of any material and crystallographic orientation. The program is structured in such a way that the user can control all the initial lens parameters. As a result, LaueGen is highly versatile and can be used to design very small lenses, for example, for nuclear medicine, or very large lenses, for example, for satellite-borne astrophysical missions.

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Section: The Lauegen Algorithmmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic algorithm to design Laue lenses with optimal performance for focusing hard X- andγ-rays

Camattari

Guidi

2014

A&A

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“…Thus, the primary radius of curvature of the tiles must be twice the focal length of the lens, namely 40 m [5,28,29]. The thickness of the tiles, T 0 , affects both the focusing capability and the integrated reflectivity of the lens.…”

Section: Simulation Of a Laue Lens With Qm Crystals With The Lauegen mentioning

confidence: 99%

Quasi-mosaicity of (311) planes in silicon and its use in a Laue lens with high-focusing power

et al. 2014

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(311) curved planes can be exploited for efficiently focus hard X-rays. With this purpose, a self-standing bent crystal was manufactured at the Sensor and Semiconductor Laboratory of Ferrara (Italy). The crystal was designed as an optical component for a X-ray concentrator such as a Laue lens. The curvature of (311) planes was obtained through the quasi-mosaic effect. The diffraction efficiency of the sample was tested at the Institut Laue Langevin of Grenoble (France) by using a collimated monochromatic X-ray beam. This was the first prove of the diffraction properties of (311) quasi-mosaic planes. Diffraction efficiency resulted 35% with a 182 keV X-ray beam, in agreement with the theoretical expectation. It corresponded to a reflectivity of 33%. While the chosen orientation is not the most performing lying of planes, it can be used, in addition to smaller-index planes, in order to raise the total effective area of a Laue lens. To quantify it, a Laue lens based on quasi-mosaic silicon and germanium crystals, exploiting (111), (422) and (311) diffracting planes, was achieved and simulated with the LaueGen code

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“…We have already reported on the LAUE project [14][15][16] in the past few years. It is the follow-up of an initial development project (HAXTEL) in which the adopted lens-assembling technique was found to be suitable only for lenses with short focal-length (<10 m).…”

Section: Goals and Motivationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Scientific prospects in soft gamma-ray astronomy enabled by the LAUE project

et al. 2013

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This paper summarizes the development of a successful project, LAUE, supported by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and devoted to the development of long focal length (up to 100 m) Laue lenses for hard X-/soft gamma-ray astronomy (80-600 keV). The apparatus is ready and the assembling of a prototype lens petal is ongoing. The great achievement of this project is the use of bent crystals. From measurements obtained on single crystals and from simulations, we have estimated the expected Point Spread Function and thus the sensitivity of a lens made of petals. The expected sensitivity is a few ×10 −8 photons cm −2 s −1 keV −1 . We discuss a number of open astrophysical questions that can settled with such an instrument aboard a free-flying satellite.A significant part of the NuSTAR core program time will be devoted to sensitive studies of extragalactic and Galactic surveys, which will supplement the extended surveys beyond 20 keV already performed 7, 8 or planned to be continued with the ESA INTEGRAL observatory, 9 and with the NASA Swift satellite. 10Evidence of extended matter-antimatter annihilation emission (at 511 keV) from the Galactic Center 11 and of Galactic nucleosynthesis processes 11, 12 has been found. Furthermore, polarization of high energy photons (> 400 keV) emitted from a strong source like the Cygnus X-1 has been clearly measured. 13However, in order to take full advantage of these results, a new generation of focusing telescopes which extend the energy band up to several hundreds of keV is needed. In spite of its high sensitivity, NuSTAR optics are based on multilayer reflectivity and therefore are limited in the energy passband. A two-order of magnitude

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Development status of the LAUE project

Cited by 12 publications

References 8 publications

Genetic algorithm to design Laue lenses with optimal performance for focusing hard X- andγ-rays

Genetic algorithm to design Laue lenses with optimal performance for focusing hard X- andγ-rays

Quasi-mosaicity of (311) planes in silicon and its use in a Laue lens with high-focusing power

Scientific prospects in soft gamma-ray astronomy enabled by the LAUE project

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