title: Physics of reflective optics for the soft gamma-ray photon energy range.
abstract: Traditional multilayer reflective optics that have been used in the past for imaging at x-ray photon energies as high as 200 keV are governed by classical wave phenomena. However, their behavior at higher energies is unknown, because of the increasing effect of incoherent scattering and the disagreement between experimental and theoretical optical properties of materials in the hard x-ray and gamma-ray regimes. Here, we demonstrate that multilayer reflective optics can operate efficiently and according to classical wave physics up to photon energies of at least 384 keV. We also use particle transport simulations to quantitatively determine that incoherent scattering takes place in the mirrors but it does not affect the performance at the Bragg angles of operation. Our results open up new possibilities of reflective optical designs in a spectral range where only diffractive optics (crystals and lenses) and crystal monochromators have been available until now.
authors.affiliation: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 7000 East Avenue, Livermore, California 94550, USA.
authors.forename: Mónica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fernández-Perea
authors.forename: Marie-Anne
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Descalle
authors.forename: Regina
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Soufli
authors.forename: Klaus P
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Ziock
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Alameda
authors.forename: Sherry L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Baker
authors.forename: Tom J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: McCarville
authors.forename: Veijo
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Honkimäki
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ziegler
authors.forename: Anders C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Jakobsen
authors.forename: Finn E
authors.initials: FE
authors.lastname: Christensen
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Pivovaroff