The first flight of a gamma-ray lens

Mathematics – Logic

Scientific paper

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Gamma-Ray Lens, Balloons

Scientific paper

On June 15, 2000, the first gamma-ray lens for astrophysics, CLAIRE, flew on a stratospheric balloon. The instrument features a Laue diffraction lens, a 3×3 array of cryogenic germanium detectors, and a balloon gondola stabilizing the lens to a few arcseconds. The lens consists of Ge/Si mosaic crystals, focusing gamma-ray photons from its 366 cm2 area onto a small solid state detector, with only 18 cm3 equivalent volume for background noise. The diffracted energy of 170 keV results in a focal length of 279 cm, yet the entire payload weighed under 500 kg. CLAIRE was launched by the French Space Agency CNES from its base at Gap-Tallard in the French Alps, and was recovered intact, after more than 6 hours at float altitude (3 mbar), in the department of the Landes in the Southwest of France. All of the systems appear to have behaved nominally during the flight. The primary objective of this technological balloon flight was to test a gamma-ray lens under space conditions. Detailed analysis of the data will involve identifying which data were obtained when CLAIRE was pointing at our main target, the Crab nebula and how many photons focused by the lens were received.

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