LAUE lens development at UC Berkeley: status and prospects

Abstract

We report on the status of the Laue lens development effort led by UC Berkeley, where a dedicated X-ray beamline and a Laue lens assembly station were built. This allowed the realization of a first lens prototype in June 2012. Based on this achievement, and thanks to a new NASA APRA grant, we are moving forward to enable Laue lenses. Several parallel activities are in progress. Firstly, we are refining the method to glue quickly and accurately crystals on a lens substrate. Secondly, we are conducting a study of high-Z crystals to diffract energies up to 900 keV efficiently. And thirdly, we are exploring new concepts of Si-based lenses that could further improve the focusing capabilities, and thus the sensitivity of Laue lenses.

Demonstration of multilayer reflective optics at photon energies above 06 MeV

“…In the quest for sensitive optics operating in the hard X-ray to soft gamma-ray photon energy range above 50 keV, two approaches have seen significant resources devoted to investigating applications and fielding instruments [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. One of these approaches employ diffraction in bulk crystals, i.e.…”