Physics – Optics
Scientific paper
Dec 2005
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2005exa....20..253v&link_type=abstract
Experimental Astronomy, Volume 20, Issue 1-3, pp. 253-267
Physics
Optics
7
Instrumentation, Nuclear Astrophysics, Gamma Ray Optics, Laue Crystals
Scientific paper
The objective of the R&D project CLAIRE was to prove the principle of a gamma-ray lens for nuclear astrophysics. CLAIRE's Laue diffraction lens has a diameter of 45 cm and a focal length of 277 cm; 556 germanium-silicon crystals are tuned to focus 170 keV photons onto a 1.5 cm diameter focal spot. Laboratory measurements of the individual crystals and the entire lens have been used to validate a numerical model that we use to estimate the lens performance for a source at infinity. During a stratospheric balloon flight on 2001 June 14, CLAIRE was directed at the Crab nebula by a pointing system able to stabilize the lens to within a few arcseconds of the target. In 72 min of valid pointing time, 33 photons from the Crab were detected in the 3 keV bandpass of the lens: CLAIRE's first light! The performance of CLAIRE's gamma-ray lens, namely the peak reflectivity for a polychromatic source (9±1%), has been confirmed by ground data obtained on a 205 meter long test range. CLAIRE's measured performance validates the principle of a Laue lens for nuclear astrophysics, opening the way for a space-borne gamma-ray lens telescope that will achieve one to two orders of magnitude improvement in sensitivity over present technologies.
Abrosimov Nikolai
Alvarez J. J.
Bastie Pierre
Evrard Jean
Halloin Hubert
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