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Coded Aperture Imaging in High-Energy Astronomy banner

A selection of coded aperture instruments
designed for astronomical observations

Follows a selection of instruments for X-ray and gamma-ray photons. The list is intended to be exhaustive, the hyperlinks not.

At this moment, six instruments are operational in space: XTE-ASM, HETE-WXM, SWIFT-BAT and the three instruments on INTEGRAL. MART-LIME probably will not fly. EXIST is being considered as a Black Hole Finder Probe in NASA's Beyond Einstein program.

With six operational instruments, coded aperture imaging in astronomy appears to be at its culmination point. The future is with new imaging techniques such as lobster eye telescopes and multi-layered super mirrors.

The list has been compiled by Jean in 't Zand (SRON) and Heiko Groeneveld (University of Tuebingen, Germany) and with the much appreciated help of many others.

Capabilities (as designed)
Instrument1/
Platform		 PI/
country 		Science2 Operat.
period		 Detector/
E-range
(keV)
E-resolution		 Pattern3
Config4
Mask mat.		 FOV5
(degrees)/
Ang. Res.
(arcmin)		 Det.
Area
(cm2)		 No.6
Instruments flown
(SL 602)
rocket		 A. Willmore (U. B'ham)
UK		 GC 69 Film
0.6-1.6
 FZP

Fe		 110 (HM)
7.6		 205 1
MPC
rocket		 R. Blake (U. Chicago?)
USA		 Sun 72 Film
0.6-1.6
 ORA

Ni/Fe		 0.25X0.25 (HM)
0.4		 2 1
SL 1501
rocket		 A. Willmore (U. B'ham)
UK		 GC 76 PSPC
2.2-10.2
18%@6 keV		 URA

Fe		 3.8X3.8 (ZR)
2.5X21		 450 1
TXC
balloon		 D. Cardini (?)
?		 TR 81 PSPC
10-150
20%@60 keV		 URAID

Pb		 95X97 (ZR)
300X240		 468 1
Burst camera / Gamma Cam
balloon		 H. Horstman (TESRE)
Italy		 GRB 83 NaI
30-300
20%@60 keV		 ORA50

Pb		 119 (FC)
120		 1200 1
HXT
Tenma		 M. Tsunemi (ISAS)
Japan		 ASM 83-84 PSPC
2-25
20%@6 keV		 URAID

Fe/Cr		 40X40 (HM)
60		 140 2
DGT
balloon		 M. McConnell (UNH)
USA		 Crab,Cyg 84,88 BGO
160-9300
19%@662 keV		 URA
R|C
Pb		 15X23 (FC)
230		 709 1
XRT
Spacelab 2		 A. Willmore (U. B'ham)
UK		 AGN, GC 85 PSPC
2-25
<20%@6 keV		 URA-p
R|C
Fe		 3.2X3.2 (HM)
3,12		 1024 2
COMIS-TTM
Kvant-Mir		 A. Brinkman (SRON)
Netherlands & UK		 transients
gal. ridge
GC		 87-99 PSPC
2-30
18%@6 keV		 URA-p
R|S
Fe/Au		 8X8 (HM)
2		 655 1
GRIP
balloon		 T. Prince (CalTech)
USA		 Crab, GC 88,89,
93,95 		NaI
30-10000
23%@60 keV		 HURA
H|C
Pb/Sn		 14 (HM)
66		 645 1
(ZEBRA) balloon G. Villa (TesRe)
Italy		 AGN, Crab, GC 89 NaI
150-10000
12%@661 keV		 URA

W		 7X9 (FC)
60		 2500 2
MIXE
balloon		 B. Ramsey (MSFC)
USA		 Crab,Cyg,AGN 89,93,97 MicroStrip
25-100
6%@60 keV		 URA
R|C
W		 1.8X1.8 (HM)
6.9		 784 1
SIGMA
Granat		 J. Paul (CNES)
France		 GC, XB 89-99 NaI
30-1500
16%@60 keV		 URA-h
R|C
W		 11X11 (HM)
13 		5000 1
ART-P
Granat		 R. Sunyaev (IKI)
Russia		 GC 89-93 PSPC
2-30
22%@6 keV		 URA-h
R|S
Cu		 1.8X1.8 (HM)
6		 655 4
(Gamma-1)
Gamma		 V. Akimov? (IKI)
SU		 GC, Sun 90-92 Spark
35-1300
16%@60 keV		 URA1D

W		 24 (HM)
20		 1500 1
(URA)
STS 39		 E. Fenimore (LANL)
USA		 GC, Cen X-3 91 HP-GSPC
2-70
15%@6 keV		 URA
H|C
W		 4.5 (HM)
4		 1000 1
EXITE-2
balloon		 J. Grindlay (Harvard)
USA		 GC 93 NaI
20-600
18%@60 keV		 URA
R|C
Pb/Sn/Cu		 4.7X4.7 (HM)
23		 1600 1
TIMAX
balloon		 J. Braga (INPE)
Brazil		 GC 93 NaI
30-100
25%@60 keV		 URA
R|M/A
Pb/Cu		 12X8.5 (ZR)
120		 400 1
SAGE
balloon		 G. Skinner (U B'ham)
UK		 Crab 93 Ge
20-1500
<0.5%		 ORA

Pb		 16X4 (FC)
60		 20 1
(WXM)
HETE		 E. Fenimore (LANL) &
N. Kawai (RIKEN)
USA & Japan		 GRB 96
(failed)		 PSPC
2-30
15%@6 keV		 ORA(33%)
R|S/C|1
Al/Au		 90X90 (ZR)
40		 400 2
GRATIS
balloon		 W. Craig (Col. U)
USA		 Cen,GC 94,95 CsI
20-200
19% 60 keV		 URA1D
Pb/Sn/Cu		 0.7 (HM)
2		 21 36
WFC
SAX		 J. Heise (SRON)
Netherlands		 GRB, X-ray
bursts, XB
 96-02 PSPC
2-30
18%@6 keV		 triadic(33%)
R|S
Fe/Au		 20X20 (HM)
5		 655 2
LEGRI
Minisat 1		 V. Reglero (U. Valencia)
Spain		 Technology 97-97 HgI2
10-100
13%@30 keV		 MURA
R|C
W		 24X24 (ZR)
150		 100 1
MASCO
balloon		 T. Villela (INPE)
Brazil		 GC 98 NaI

16%@60 keV		 MURA

13 (HM)
14		 1300 1
Instruments flying
ASM
RXTE		 H. Bradt (MIT)
USA		 XB,AGN,GRB 95- PSPC
2-10
25%@6 keV		 ORA
R|S|1
Al/Au		 6X90 (HM)
3X15		 90 3
WXM
HETE		 E. Fenimore (LANL) &
N. Kawai (RIKEN)
USA & Japan		 GRB,
X-ray bursts		 00- PSPC
2-30
15%@6 keV		 ORA(33%)
R|S/C|1
Al/Au		 90X90 (ZR)
40		 400 2
IBIS
INTEGRAL		 P. Ubertini (IAS)
Italy		 XB,AGN 02- CdTe/CsI
20-10000
8% @ 100 keV		 MURA
R|C
W		 8X8 (FC)
12		 2500 1
SPI
INTEGRAL		 V. Schoenfelder (MPE)
Germany		 Galactic
diffuse
emission		 02- Ge
20-8000
0.2% @ 1.33 MeV		 HURA
H|C
W
 16 (FC)
120		 500 1
JEM-X
INTEGRAL		 N. Lund (DSRI)
Denmark		 XB,AGN 02- PSPC
3-35
13%@10 keV		 ORA(25%)
H|C
W		 4.8 (FC)
3		 500 2
BAT
SWIFT		 N. Gehrels (GSFC)
USA		 GRB,
hard X-ray
survey		 04- CdZnTe
15-150
6 keV throughout		 URA
H|C
 120
17		 5200 1
Instruments to fly
MART-LIME
SXG		 P. Ubertini (IAS)
Italy		 XB ? PSPC
5-150
<5%		 URA-h
R|C
?		 5X5 (FC)
4-8 		2000 1
Instruments being studied
EXIST
Balloon		 J. Grindlay (Harvard)
USA		 Survey CdZnTe
5-600
1% @ 100 keV		 20X6 (HM)
5		 2500 4

1Instruments between parentheses experienced difficulties in flight
2 XB - galactic X-ray binaries, GRB - gamma ray burst phenomenon, ASM - all-sky monitoring, SSM - selected-sky monitoring, AGN - active galactic nuclei, Technology - instrument technology, GC - the galactic center
3 Pattern: FZP = Fresnel Zone Plate, ORA = Optimized RAndom pattern, URA = Uniformly Redundant Array, HURA = Hexagonal URA; p = pseudo-noise subset, h = hadamard subset, tp = twin prime subset; triadic = near-URA with 0.33 open fraction
4 Configuration: R = rectangular, H = hexagonal, C = cyclic, S = simple, 1 = 1-dimensional
5 HM=full width at half maximum, ZR=full width at zero response, FC=full width of fully coded field of view
6 Number of modules

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Questions or suggestions? Please email jeanz@sron.nl.

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These pages have been compiled by Jean in 't Zand. They are intended to provide general information for those interested in coded aperture imaging. Any citations should reference original papers as noted in the bibliography, and requests for further information about any of the papers should be directed to the authors thereof.