Recent developments in Laue lens manufacturing and their impact on imaging performance

Year: 2024

Authors: Ferro L., Virgilli E., Auricchio N., Ferrari C., Caroli E., Lolli R., Moita M.F., Rosati P., Frontera F., Pucci M., Stephen J.B., Guidorzi C.

Autors Affiliation: Univ Ferrara, Dept Phys & Earth Sci, Ferrara, Italy; INAF OAS Bologna, Bologna, Italy; INFN Sect Bologna, Bologna, Italy; Inst Mat Elect & Magnetism CNR IMEM, Parma, Italy; INAF Osservatorio Astron Brera Merate, Merate, Italy; INFN Sect Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy; Natl Inst Opt CNR INO, Florence, Italy.

Abstract: We report on recent progress in the development of Laue lenses for applications in hard X/soft gamma-ray astronomy. Here, we focus on the realization of a sector of such a lens made of 11 bent germanium crystals and describe the technological challenges involved in their positioning and alignment with adhesive-based bonding techniques. The accurate alignment and the uniformity of the curvature of the crystals are critical for achieving optimal X-ray focusing capabilities. We assessed how the errors of misalignment with respect to the main orientation angles of the crystals affect the point spread function (PSF) of the image diffracted by a single sector. We corroborated these results with simulations carried out with our physical model of the lens, based on a Monte Carlo ray-tracing technique, adopting the geometrical configuration of the Laue sector, the observed assembly accuracy, and the measured curvatures of the crystals. An extrapolation of the performances achieved on a single sector to an entire Laue lens based on this model shows that a PSF with a half-power-diameter of 4.8 arcmin can be achieved with current technology. This has the potential to lead to a significant improvement in the sensitivity of spectroscopic and polarimetric observations in the 50 to 600 keV band. (c) 2024 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE)

Journal/Review: JOURNAL OF ASTRONOMICAL TELESCOPES INSTRUMENTS AND SYSTEMS

Volume: 10 (1)      Pages from: 14002-1  to: 14002-15

More Information: This work was partly supported by the AHEAD-2020 Project Grant Agreement 871158 of the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Program and by the ASI-INAF Agreement No. 2017-14-H.O Studies for future scientific missions.
KeyWords: Laue lenses; hard X-ray astronomy; soft gamma-ray astronomy; focusing optics
DOI: 10.1117/1.JATIS.10.1.014002