Franz Pfeiffer (physicist)

Franz Pfeiffer (born 25 November 1972 in Kösching, Germany) is a German physicist known for his contributions to the development of Phase-contrast X-ray imaging and its applications in biomedical research.

Franz Pfeiffer
Born(1972-11-25)25 November 1972
NationalityGerman
Alma materSaarland University
Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
Known forGrating-based phase-contrast X-ray imaging
Dark-field imaging
AwardsLeibniz Prize (2011)
Scientific career
FieldsPhysics
InstitutionsTechnical University Munich
EPFL
Swiss Light Source

Research edit

Pfeiffer contributed to the extension of known imaging modalities such as Differential interference contrast microscopy and Dark-field microscopy to the X-ray regime. In 2006 he demonstrated the feasibility of phase sensitive X-ray imaging with conventional, polychromatic X-ray sources and a grating interferometer.[1] This enlarged the potential of X-ray phase imaging for clinical use as before the technique was only possible at synchrotron facilities. Pfeiffer further introduced the extraction of a supplementary signal (so-called "dark-field signal") sensitive to porous microstructure of a sample based on X-ray scattering.[2] His research group at the Technical University Munich demonstrated a range of possible applications of the new modalities in medical and material research.

Further Pfeiffer is known for his research in X-ray Ptychography,[3] X-ray tensor tomography,[4][5] grating-based Neutron interferometric imaging[6] and iterative CT reconstruction algorithms. He is author and co-author of more than 250[7] scientific publications and inventor in several patents.

In 2011 he was awarded the Leibniz Prize for his achievements in X-ray physics.

References edit

  1. ^ Pfeiffer, F.; Weitkamp, T.; Bunk, O.; David, C. (2006). "Phase retrieval and differential phase-contrast imaging with low-brilliance X-ray sources". Nature Physics. 2 (4): 258–261. Bibcode:2006NatPh...2..258P. doi:10.1038/nphys265.
  2. ^ Pfeiffer, F.; Bech, M.; Bunk, O.; Kraft, P.; Eikenberry, E. F.; Brönnimann, C.; Grünzweig, C.; David, C. (2008). "Hard-X-ray dark-field imaging using a grating interferometer". Nature Materials. 7 (2): 134–137. Bibcode:2008NatMa...7..134P. doi:10.1038/nmat2096. PMID 18204454.
  3. ^ Dierolf, Martin; Menzel, Andreas; Thibault, Pierre; Schneider, Philipp; Kewish, Cameron M.; Wepf, Roger; Bunk, Oliver; Pfeiffer, Franz (2010-09-23). "Ptychographic X-ray computed tomography at the nanoscale". Nature. 467 (7314): 436–439. Bibcode:2010Natur.467..436D. doi:10.1038/nature09419. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 20864997. S2CID 2449015.
  4. ^ Schaff, Florian; Bech, Martin; Zaslansky, Paul; Jud, Christoph; Liebi, Marianne; Guizar-Sicairos, Manuel; Pfeiffer, Franz (2015-11-19). "Six-dimensional real and reciprocal space small-angle X-ray scattering tomography". Nature. 527 (7578): 353–356. Bibcode:2015Natur.527..353S. doi:10.1038/nature16060. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 26581292. S2CID 4463780.
  5. ^ Seyyedi, Saeed; Wieczorek, Matthias; Pfeffer, Franz; Lasser, Tobias (2018-01-17). "Incorporating a Noise Reduction Technique Into X-Ray Tensor Tomography". IEEE Transactions on Computational Imaging. 4 (1): 137–146. doi:10.1109/TCI.2018.2794740. ISSN 2333-9403. S2CID 46793582.
  6. ^ Pfeiffer, F.; Grünzweig, C.; Bunk, O.; Frei, G.; Lehmann, E.; David, C. (2006-06-02). "Neutron Phase Imaging and Tomography". Physical Review Letters. 96 (21): 215505. Bibcode:2006PhRvL..96u5505P. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.215505. PMID 16803249.
  7. ^ "Chair of Biomedical Physics: Franz Pfeiffer". www.e17.ph.tum.de. Retrieved 2017-05-27.