The TRILL project: increasing the technological readiness of Laue lenses

Abstract

Hard x-/soft gamma-ray astronomy (>100 keV) is a crucial field for the study of important astrophysical phenomena such as the 511 keV positron annihilation line in the galactic center region and its origin, gamma-ray bursts, soft gamma-ray repeaters, nuclear lines from SN explosions and more. However, several key questions in this field require sensitivity and angular resolution that are hardly achievable with present technology. A new generation of instruments suitable to focus hard x-/soft gamma-rays is necessary to overcome the technological limitations of current direct-viewing telescopes. One solution is using Laue lenses based on Bragg’s diffraction in a transmission configuration. To date, this technology is in an advanced stage of development and further efforts are being made in order to significantly increase its technology readiness level (TRL). To this end, massive production of suitable crystals is required, as well as an improvement of the capability of their alignment. Such a technological improvement could be exploited in stratospheric balloon experiments and, ultimately, in space missions with a telescope of about 20 m focal length, capable of focusing over a broad energy pass-band. We present the latest technological developments of the TRILL (technological readiness increase for Laue lenses) project, supported by ASI, devoted to the advancement of the technological readiness of Laue lenses. We show the method we developed for preparing suitable bent germanium and silicon crystals and the latest advancements in crystals alignment technology.