Dispersive refraction of different light-to-heavy materials at MeV $γ$-ray energies

Abstract

The dispersive behavior of materials with atomic charge numbers varing from $Z = 4$ (beryllium, Be) to $Z = 82$ (lead, Pb) was investigated experimentally and theoretically at $γ$-ray energies up to 2 MeV. The experiment was performed at the double-crystal gamma spectrometer GAMS6 of the ILL in Grenoble. The experimental results were compared with theoretical calculations which account for all major elastic processes involved. Overall, we found a good agreement between theory and experiment. We find that for the development of refractive optics at $γ$-ray energies beyond those currently in use high-Z materials become increasingly attractive compared to the beryllium lens-stacks used at X-ray energies.

submitted to Phys. Rev. A