PROCEEDINGS ARTICLE | August 31, 2009
Proc. SPIE. 7437, Optics for EUV, X-Ray, and Gamma-Ray Astronomy IV
KEYWORDS: Gold, Diffraction, Sensors, Crystals, Silver, Reflectivity, Platinum, Gamma radiation, Laser crystals, Absorption
In a Laue lens a large number of crystals are disposed on concentric rings such as they diffract via Braggdiffraction
the incident gamma-rays onto a common focal spot. Compact structured high-Z mosaic-crystals are
among the most efficient diffraction media for the domain of nuclear astrophysics (i.e. 300 keV ≤ E ≤ 1.5 MeV).
We have studied the potential of various high-Z crystals such as Ir, W, Au, Ag, Pt, Rh and AsGa for a Laue
lens application. The diffraction performance of gold, silver and platinum crystals have been measured during
runs at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility and in a reactor-beamline at the Institut Laue Langevin,
Grenoble in France. Several of the tested high-Z materials show outstanding performances with reflectivities
reaching the theoretical limits for mosaic-crystals, and hence open the way towards efficient focusing optics at
MeV energies.
