Rapid and accurate assembly method for a new Laue lens prototype

The Laue lens is a technology for gamma-ray astrophysics whereby gamma-rays of particular energies can be focused by a suitable arrangement of crystals. The Laue lens assembly station at UC Berkeley was used to build a technological demonstrator addressing the key issues of crystal mounting speed, crystal position and orientation accuracy, and crystal reflectivity. The new prototype is a lens segment containing a total of 48 5 x 5 mm2 crystals - 36 Iron and 12 Aluminium. The segment is composed of 8 partial rings, each of which is aligned to diffract an energy between 95 and 130 keV from a source at 12:5m with a focal length of 1:5 m.