Laue lenses: Focusing optics for hard X/soft Gamma-ray astronomy

Hard X-/soft Gamma-ray astronomy is a key eld for the study of important astro- physical phenomena such as the electromagnetic counterparts of gravitational waves, gamma-ray bursts, black holes physics and many more. However, the spatial localiza- tion, imaging capabilities and sensitivity of the measurements are strongly limited for the energy range >70 keV due to the lack of focusing instruments operating in this energy band. A new generation of instruments suitable to focus hard X-/ soft Gamma-rays is necessary to shed light on the nature of astrophysical phenomena which are still unclear due to the limitations of current direct-viewing telescopes. Laue lenses can be the answer to those needs. A Laue lens is an optical device consisting of a large number of prop- erly oriented crystals which are capable, through Laue diraction, of concentrating the radiation into the common Laue lens focus. In contrast with the grazing incidence tele- scopes commonly used for softer X-rays, the transmission conguration of the Laue lenses The Sixteenth Marcel Grossmann Meeting Downloaded from www.worldscientific.com by 150.145.109.20 on 12/05/24. Re-use and distribution is strictly not permitted, except for Open Access articles. 3356 allows us to obtain a signicant sensitive area even at energies of hundreds of keV. At the University of Ferrara we are actively working on the modelization and construction of a broad-band Laue lens. In this work we will present the main concepts behind Laue lenses and the latest technological developments of the TRILL (Technological Readiness Increase for Laue Lenses) project, devoted to the advancement of the technological readi- ness of Laue lenses by developing the rst prototype of a lens sector made of cylindrical bent crystals of Germanium.