Blind reconstruction of x-ray penumbral images based on a heuristic method

Abstract

We apply a heuristic method to blind reconstruction of noisy penumbral images. Penumbral imaging is a powerful technique for imaging with penetrating radiation such as neutrons and hard x ray with a high spatial resolution. Limitations of the conventional reconstruction method are that it will introduce a significant distortion if the penumbral image is distorted by the noise, and that the point spread function (PSF) must be exactly known beforehand. The proposed method can estimate both the source image and the diameter of the PSF from only the penumbral image. The efficacy of the method is demonstrated by computer simulation and real laser plasma experiments.