Start of funding 01.07.2008

Image Reconstruction Software for Near-Field Coded Mask Instruments

Prof. Dr. Jörn Wilms
Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nuremberg
Dr. Remeis Sternwarte

Prof. Dr. Marc Stamminger
Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nuremberg
Lehrstuhl für Informatik 9 (Graphische Datenverarbeitung)

Dr. Richard E. Rothschild
University of California, San Diego
Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences



Due to the highly penetrating nature of X-rays with energies above 10keV, standard optical technologies such as mirrors cannot be used to produce images at these energies. One of the alternative technologies are so-called coded masks, a variant of the better known shadow masks. The aim of this project is to develop software for the real-time reconstruction of images taken from sources close to a coded mask camera instead of the more common use of these cameras for astronomical imaging (where sources can be taken to be at infinity).