173,736 research outputs found
Regularized Newton Methods for X-ray Phase Contrast and General Imaging Problems
Like many other advanced imaging methods, x-ray phase contrast imaging and
tomography require mathematical inversion of the observed data to obtain
real-space information. While an accurate forward model describing the
generally nonlinear image formation from a given object to the observations is
often available, explicit inversion formulas are typically not known. Moreover,
the measured data might be insufficient for stable image reconstruction, in
which case it has to be complemented by suitable a priori information. In this
work, regularized Newton methods are presented as a general framework for the
solution of such ill-posed nonlinear imaging problems. For a proof of
principle, the approach is applied to x-ray phase contrast imaging in the
near-field propagation regime. Simultaneous recovery of the phase- and
amplitude from a single near-field diffraction pattern without homogeneity
constraints is demonstrated for the first time. The presented methods further
permit all-at-once phase contrast tomography, i.e. simultaneous phase retrieval
and tomographic inversion. We demonstrate the potential of this approach by
three-dimensional imaging of a colloidal crystal at 95 nm isotropic resolution.Comment: (C)2016 Optical Society of America. One print or electronic copy may
be made for personal use only. Systematic reproduction and distribution,
duplication of any material in this paper for a fee or for commercial
purposes, or modifications of the content of this paper are prohibite
Modern optical astronomy: technology and impact of interferometry
The present `state of the art' and the path to future progress in high
spatial resolution imaging interferometry is reviewed. The review begins with a
treatment of the fundamentals of stellar optical interferometry, the origin,
properties, optical effects of turbulence in the Earth's atmosphere, the
passive methods that are applied on a single telescope to overcome atmospheric
image degradation such as speckle interferometry, and various other techniques.
These topics include differential speckle interferometry, speckle spectroscopy
and polarimetry, phase diversity, wavefront shearing interferometry,
phase-closure methods, dark speckle imaging, as well as the limitations imposed
by the detectors on the performance of speckle imaging. A brief account is
given of the technological innovation of adaptive-optics (AO) to compensate
such atmospheric effects on the image in real time. A major advancement
involves the transition from single-aperture to the dilute-aperture
interferometry using multiple telescopes. Therefore, the review deals with
recent developments involving ground-based, and space-based optical arrays.
Emphasis is placed on the problems specific to delay-lines, beam recombination,
polarization, dispersion, fringe-tracking, bootstrapping, coherencing and
cophasing, and recovery of the visibility functions. The role of AO in
enhancing visibilities is also discussed. The applications of interferometry,
such as imaging, astrometry, and nulling are described. The mathematical
intricacies of the various `post-detection' image-processing techniques are
examined critically. The review concludes with a discussion of the
astrophysical importance and the perspectives of interferometry.Comment: 65 pages LaTeX file including 23 figures. Reviews of Modern Physics,
2002, to appear in April issu
Diffractive X-ray Telescopes
Diffractive X-ray telescopes using zone plates, phase Fresnel lenses, or
related optical elements have the potential to provide astronomers with true
imaging capability with resolution several orders of magnitude better than
available in any other waveband. Lenses that would be relatively easy to
fabricate could have an angular resolution of the order of micro-arc-seconds or
even better, that would allow, for example, imaging of the distorted space-
time in the immediate vicinity of the super-massive black holes in the center
of active galaxies What then is precluding their immediate adoption? Extremely
long focal lengths, very limited bandwidth, and difficulty stabilizing the
image are the main problems. The history, and status of the development of such
lenses is reviewed here and the prospects for managing the challenges that they
present are discussed.Comment: 46 pages, 15 figures, invited review paper to be published in a
special issue on "X-Ray Focusing: Techniques and Applications" of the online
journal "X-Ray Optics & Instrumentation
Large Scale 3D Image Reconstruction in Optical Interferometry
Astronomical optical interferometers (OI) sample the Fourier transform of the
intensity distribution of a source at the observation wavelength. Because of
rapid atmospheric perturbations, the phases of the complex Fourier samples
(visibilities) cannot be directly exploited , and instead linear relationships
between the phases are used (phase closures and differential phases).
Consequently, specific image reconstruction methods have been devised in the
last few decades. Modern polychromatic OI instruments are now paving the way to
multiwavelength imaging. This paper presents the derivation of a
spatio-spectral ("3D") image reconstruction algorithm called PAINTER
(Polychromatic opticAl INTErferometric Reconstruction software). The algorithm
is able to solve large scale problems. It relies on an iterative process, which
alternates estimation of polychromatic images and of complex visibilities. The
complex visibilities are not only estimated from squared moduli and closure
phases, but also from differential phases, which help to better constrain the
polychromatic reconstruction. Simulations on synthetic data illustrate the
efficiency of the algorithm.Comment: EUSIPCO, Aug 2015, NICE, Franc
The Emergence of the Modern Universe: Tracing the Cosmic Web
This is the report of the Ultraviolet-Optical Working Group (UVOWG)
commissioned by NASA to study the scientific rationale for new missions in
ultraviolet/optical space astronomy approximately ten years from now, when the
Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is de-orbited. The UVOWG focused on a scientific
theme, The Emergence of the Modern Universe, the period from redshifts z = 3 to
0, occupying over 80% of cosmic time and beginning after the first galaxies,
quasars, and stars emerged into their present form. We considered
high-throughput UV spectroscopy (10-50x throughput of HST/COS) and wide-field
optical imaging (at least 10 arcmin square). The exciting science to be
addressed in the post-HST era includes studies of dark matter and baryons, the
origin and evolution of the elements, and the major construction phase of
galaxies and quasars. Key unanswered questions include: Where is the rest of
the unseen universe? What is the interplay of the dark and luminous universe?
How did the IGM collapse to form the galaxies and clusters? When were galaxies,
clusters, and stellar populations assembled into their current form? What is
the history of star formation and chemical evolution? Are massive black holes a
natural part of most galaxies? A large-aperture UV/O telescope in space
(ST-2010) will provide a major facility in the 21st century for solving these
scientific problems. The UVOWG recommends that the first mission be a 4m
aperture, SIRTF-class mission that focuses on UV spectroscopy and wide-field
imaging. In the coming decade, NASA should investigate the feasibility of an 8m
telescope, by 2010, with deployable optics similar to NGST. No high-throughput
UV/Optical mission will be possible without significant NASA investments in
technology, including UV detectors, gratings, mirrors, and imagers.Comment: Report of UV/O Working Group to NASA, 72 pages, 13 figures, Full
document with postscript figures available at
http://casa.colorado.edu/~uvconf/UVOWG.htm
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