Coded Aperture Imaging in High-Energy Astrophysics

TL;DR

Coded-aperture imaging instruments are effective for high-energy astrophysics surveys and transient detection, offering advantages in simultaneous spectral measurements despite lower sensitivity than focusing telescopes.

Contribution

This paper provides a comprehensive review of the fundamentals, characteristics, and image properties of coded-aperture imaging instruments in high-energy astrophysics.

Findings

Coded-aperture telescopes enable high-cadence spectral measurements.

They are effective for survey and transient-source detection.

Despite lower sensitivity, they are valuable for specific observational needs.

Abstract

Hard X-ray and low-energy gamma-ray coded-aperture imaging instruments have been highly successful as high-energy surveyors and transient-source discoverers and trackers over the past decades. Albeit having relatively low sensitivity as compared to focussing instruments, coded-aperture telescopes still represent a very good choice for simultaneous, high cadence spectral measurements of individual point sources in large source fields. Here I present a review of the fundamentals of coded-aperture imaging instruments in high-energy astrophysics. Emphasis is on fundamental aspects of the technique, coded-mask instrument characteristics, and properties of the reconstructed images.