Coded aperture imaging for fluorescent x-rays

We employ a coded aperture pattern in front of a pixilated charge couple device detector to image fluorescent x-rays (6-25 KeV) from samples irradiated with synchrotron radiation. Coded apertures encode the angular direction of x-rays, and given a known source plane, allow for a large numerical aperture x-ray imaging system. The algorithm to develop and fabricate the free standing No-Two-Holes-Touching aperture pattern was developed. The algorithms to reconstruct the x-ray image from the recorded encoded pattern were developed by means of a ray tracing technique and confirmed by experiments on standard samples.