Dr. Hans Moritz Günther Profile

Dr. Hans Moritz Günther

Research Scientist at MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research

SPIE Involvement:

Author

Area of Expertise:

X-ray , ray-trace , analysis software , software development , roman warships

Websites:

Personal Website | Company Website

Profile Summary

I am a research scientist at the MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research. I lead the development of the Chandra ray-trace code marx and perform ray-traces for a variety of new X-ray space missions, such as the grating spectrometer on lynx, on Arcus, or for a soft X-ray polarimeter. I strongly believe in free and open source software, and make ray-trace code and analysis available as much as I'm allowed to. I contribute to the development of analysis software in several areas of astronomy. On the science side, I study accretion and outflow processes of young stars. As part of a collaboration that quantifies the abilities of ancient roman warships, I'm probably also the most experienced roman riverboat captains on this side of the Atlantic Ocean.

Publications (25)

Proceedings Article | 5 October 2023 Presentation + Paper

Presentation + Paper

Far-ultraviolet spectroscopy on the Arcus x-ray probe

Kevin France, Brian Fleming, Nicholas Nell, Timothy Hellickson, Thomas Patton, Dolon Bhattacharyya, Joel Bregman, Katja Poppenhaeger, Hans Moritz Günther, Laura Brenneman, Randall Smith, Nancy Brickhouse, Todd Tripp, Pasqualle Temi

Proceedings Volume 12678, 126780F (2023) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2677332

KEYWORDS: Ultraviolet radiation, Galactic astronomy, X-rays, Stars, Far ultraviolet, Equipment, Spectroscopy, Spectrographs, Astrophysics, Spectral resolution

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Proceedings Article | 5 October 2023 Poster + Paper

Poster + Paper

Arcus x-ray telescope performance and alignment

Hans Moritz Günther, Casey DeRoo, Randall Smith, Eric Miller, Andrew Ptak, Ralf Heilmann, Peter Cheimets

Proceedings Volume 12678, 126781D (2023) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2677455

KEYWORDS: Ultraviolet radiation, Equipment, Charge-coupled devices, X-rays, Spectral resolution, Optical gratings, Simulations, Vignetting, Dispersion

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SPIE Journal Paper | 22 May 2023

Concept for a critical-angle transmission grating spectrometer for the AXIS probe

Hans M. Günther, David A. Principe, Ralf K. Heilmann, Peter Cheimets, Edward Hertz, Randall Smith

JATIS, Vol. 9, Issue 02, 024007, (May 2023) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.10.1117/1.JATIS.9.2.024007

KEYWORDS: Optical gratings, Blazed gratings, Photons, Spectroscopy, Computed tomography, Spectral resolution, X-rays, Point spread functions, Mirrors, Diffraction gratings

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Proceedings Article | 31 August 2022 Presentation + Paper

Presentation + Paper

Flight-like critical-angle transmission grating x-ray performance for Arcus

Randall Smith, Edward Hertz, Vadim Burwitz, Eric Gullikson, Peter Cheimets, Casey DeRoo, Alan Garner, Hans Moritz Günther, Gisela Hartner, Andreas Langmeier, Thomas Mueller, Thomas Schmidt, Surangkhana Rukdee, Ralf Heilmann, Mark Schattenburg, Alexander Bruccoleri

Proceedings Volume 12181, 1218116 (2022) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2628195

KEYWORDS: X-ray astronomy, X-ray optics, X-ray telescopes, X-ray technology, Diffraction gratings, X-rays, Diffraction, Silicon, Spectral resolution, Tolerancing, Spectroscopy, Semiconducting wafers, Ray tracing

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Proceedings Article | 31 August 2022 Presentation + Paper

Presentation + Paper

Arcus: exploring the formation and evolution of clusters, galaxies, and stars

Randall Smith, Joel Bregman, Deepto Chakrabarty, Catherine Grant, Hans Moritz Guenther, Ralf Heilmann, Sarah Heine, David Huenemoerder, Erin Kara, Herman Marshall, Michael McDonald, Mark Schattenburg, Marshall Bautz, Claude Canizares, Norbert Schulz, Jeremy Sanders, Kirpal Nandra, Pasquale Temi, Butler Hine, Stephen Walker, Alan Smale, Andrew Ptak, Robert Petre, Agata Rozanska, Laura Brenneman, Steve Jara, Joseph Bushman, Peter Cheimets, Esra Bulbul, Vadim Burwitz, Nancy Brickhouse, Katja Poppenhaeger, Fritis Paerels, Karolyn Ronzano, Ingo Kreykenbohm, Joern Wilms, Lynne Valencic, Eric Miller, Abe Falcone, Randall McEntaffer, Luigi Gallo, Paul Reid, Jenna Samra, Scott Wolk, Jonathan Schonfeld, Adam Foster, Elisa Costantini, Jelle Kaastra, Casey DeRoo, Kristin Madsen, Richard Mushotzky, Jon Miller, Michael Nowak

Proceedings Volume 12181, 1218121 (2022) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2628628

KEYWORDS: X-rays, Galactic astronomy, Absorption, Stars, Ionization, Spectroscopy, Galaxy groups and clusters, Diagnostics

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Proceedings Article | 24 August 2021 Presentation + Paper

Presentation + Paper

Principal component analysis of the Chandra ACIS gain

Hans Moritz Günther, Ákos Bogdán, Nick Durham

Proceedings Volume 11821, 118210W (2021) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2594301

KEYWORDS: Principal component analysis, Calibration, Sensors, Iron, Charge-coupled devices, X-rays

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Proceedings Article | 24 August 2021 Presentation + Paper

Presentation + Paper

Development for a metrology system for the Arcus MIDEX mission

Peter Cheimets, Jacob Hohl, Edward Hertz, Jenna Samra, Randall Smith, Alan Schier, Casey DeRoo, Moritz Gunther, Kristin Madsen, Stephen Walker

Proceedings Volume 11821, 1182107 (2021) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2594671

KEYWORDS: Sensors, Metrology, Cameras, Motion measurement, Imaging systems, Detection and tracking algorithms, Image resolution, Target detection, Observatories

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Proceedings Article | 23 August 2021 Presentation + Paper

Presentation + Paper

The Globe Orbiting Soft X-ray (GOSoX) polarimeter concept study

Herman Marshall, Rebecca Masterson, Alan Garner, Sarah N. T. Heine, H. Moritz Günther, Norbert Schulz, William Zhang, Rozenn Boissay-Malaquin, Ilaria Caiazzo, Deepto Chakrabarty, Luigi Gallo, Ralf Heilmann, Jeremy Heyl, Erin Kara, Rosemary Davidson, Eric Gullikson, Christopher Leitz, Eric Miller, June Stenzel

Proceedings Volume 11822, 118220O (2021) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2596186

KEYWORDS: Space operations, X-rays, Charge-coupled devices, Polarimetry, Sensors, Mirrors, Polarization, Electronics, Calibration

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Proceedings Article | 13 December 2020 Presentation + Paper

Presentation + Paper

Ray-tracing a small orbital mission for soft-x-ray polarimetry

Hans Moritz Günther, Herman Marshall, Alan Garner

Proceedings Volume 11444, 1144460 (2020) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2562860

KEYWORDS: Polarimetry, X-rays, Polarization, Mirrors, Rockets, Satellites

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Proceedings Article | 13 December 2020 Poster + Presentation + Paper

Poster + Presentation + Paper

Lynx grating spectrometer design: optimizing chirped transmission gratings

Hans Moritz Günther, Ralf Heilmann

Proceedings Volume 11444, 1144488 (2020) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2562878

KEYWORDS: Spectrometer engineering, Optical design, Computed tomography, X-rays, Spectroscopy, New and emerging technologies, Tolerancing, Spectral resolution

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Proceedings Article | 13 December 2020 Presentation + Paper

Presentation + Paper

A small satellite version of a broad-band soft x-ray polarimeter

Jeremy Heyl, Herman Marshall, H. Moritz Günther, Ralf Heilmann, Sarah N. Heine, Alan Garner, Eric Gullikson, Christopher Leitz, Rebecca Masterson, Eric Miller, William Zhang, Rozenn Boissay Malaquin, Ilaria Caiazzo, Deepto Chakrabarty, Rosemary Davidson, Luigi Gallo, Erin Kara, Alan Marscher, Norbert Schulz

Proceedings Volume 11444, 114442Y (2020) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2562811

KEYWORDS: Polarimetry, X-rays, Satellites, Polarization, Rockets, Optical design, Mirrors, X-ray detectors, Charge-coupled devices, CCD image sensors

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Proceedings Article | 9 September 2019 Paper

Paper

Design progress on the Lynx soft x-ray critical-angle transmission grating spectrometer

Hans Moritz Günther, Ralf Heilmann

Proceedings Volume 11118, 111181C (2019) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2525814

KEYWORDS: Optical design, X-rays, Spectroscopy, Spectrometer engineering, Spectral resolution, Signal detection, Computed tomography, Tolerancing, Mirrors, Diffraction gratings

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Proceedings Article | 9 September 2019 Presentation + Paper

Presentation + Paper

Arcus: the soft x-ray grating explorer

Margaret Abraham, Grace Baird, Marshall Bautz, Joel Bregman, Laura Brenneman, Nancy Brickhouse, David Burrows, Vadim Burwitz, Joseph Bushman, Claude Canizares, Deepto Chakrabarty, Peter Cheimets, Elisa Costantini, Simon Dawson, Casey DeRoo, Abraham Falcone, Adam Foster, Luigi Gallo, Catherine Grant, Ralf Heilmann, Butler Hine, David Huenemoerder, Steve Jara, Jelle Kaastra, Ingo Kreykenbohm, Kristin Madsen, Michael McDonald, Randall McEntaffer, Eric Miller, Richard Mushotzky, Kirpal Nandra, Michael Nowak, Robert Petre, Katja Poppenhaeger, Andrew Ptak, Paul Reid, Karolyn Ronzano, Jeremy Sanders, Mark Schattenburg, Jonathan Schonfeld, Alan Smale, Pasquale Temi, Lynne Valencic, Stephen Walker, Richard Willingale, Joern Wilms, Elisabeth Morse, Randall Smith, Jay Bookbinder, H. Moritz Günther, Scott Wolk, Jon Miller, Norbert Schulz, Herman Marshall, Frits Paerels, Michael McEachen

Proceedings Volume 11118, 111180W (2019) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2529499

KEYWORDS: X-rays, Space operations, Spectroscopy, Charge-coupled devices, Galactic astronomy, Sensors, Point spread functions, Spectral resolution, Absorption

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SPIE Journal Paper | 29 May 2019 Open Access

Open Access

Lynx X-Ray Observatory: an overview

Jessica Gaskin, Douglas Swartz, Alexey Vikhlinin, Feryal Özel, Karen E. Gelmis, Jonathan Arenberg, Simon Bandler, Mark Bautz, Marta Civitani, Alexandra Dominguez, Megan Eckart, Abraham Falcone, Enectali Figueroa-Feliciano, Mark Freeman, Hans Günther, Keith Havey, Ralf Heilmann, Kiranmayee Kilaru, Ralph Kraft, Kevin McCarley, Randall McEntaffer, Giovanni Pareschi, William Purcell, Paul Reid, Mark Schattenburg, Daniel Schwartz, Eric Schwartz, Harvey Tananbaum, Grant Tremblay, William Zhang, John Zuhone

JATIS, Vol. 5, Issue 02, 021001, (May 2019) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.10.1117/1.JATIS.5.2.021001

KEYWORDS: X-rays, Mirrors, Observatories, Galactic astronomy, Spatial resolution, Sensors, Space operations, X-ray imaging, Spectroscopy, Image resolution

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SPIE Journal Paper | 8 March 2019 Open Access

Open Access

Lynx soft x-ray critical-angle transmission grating spectrometer

Hans Moritz Günther, Ralf Heilmann

JATIS, Vol. 5, Issue 02, 021003, (March 2019) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.10.1117/1.JATIS.5.2.021003

KEYWORDS: Computed tomography, Diffraction gratings, Mirrors, Sensors, X-rays, Photons, Spectral resolution, Spectroscopy, Diffraction, Silicon

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Proceedings Article | 10 July 2018 Presentation

Presentation

Arcus: the x-ray grating spectrometer explorer (Conference Presentation)

Laura Brenneman, Adam Foster, Hans Guenther, Andrew Ptak, Randall Smith, Meghan Abraham, Marshall Bautz, Jay Bookbinder, Joel Bregman, Nancy Brickhouse, David Burrows, Vadim Burwitz, Peter Cheimets, Elisa Costantini, Simon Dawson, Casey DeRoo, Abe Falcone, Luigi Gallo, Catherine Grant, Ralf Heilmann, Ed Hertz, Butler Hine, David Huenemoerder, Jelle Kaastra, Ingo Kreykenbohm, Kristin Madsen, Randall McEntaffer, Eric Miller, Jon Miller, Elisabeth Morse, Richard Mushotzky, Kirpal Nandra, Michael Nowak, Fritz Paerels, Robert Petre, Katja Poppenhaeger, Paul Reid, Jeremy Sanders, Mark Schattenburg, Norbert Schulz, Alan Smale, Pasquale Temi, Lynne Valencic, Stephen Walker, Richard Willingale, Joern Wilms, Scott Wolk

Proceedings Volume 10699, 1069926 (2018) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2313965

KEYWORDS: X-rays, Spectroscopy, X-ray optics, Atmospheric propagation, Space operations, Observatories, Spectral resolution, Galactic astronomy, Stars, Exoplanets

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Proceedings Article | 6 July 2018 Paper

Paper

Blazed transmission grating technology development for the Arcus x-ray spectrometer explorer

Ralf Heilmann, Mark Schattenburg, Alexander Bruccoleri, Jungki Song, Casey DeRoo, Peter Cheimetz, Randall Smith, Vadim Burwitz, Edward Hertz, Gisela Hartner, Marlis-Madeleine La Caria, Carlo Pelliciari, Hans Guenther, Sarah N. Heine, Beverly LaMarr, Herman Marshall, Norbert Schulz, Eric Gullikson

Proceedings Volume 10699, 106996D (2018) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2314180

KEYWORDS: Diffraction gratings, X-rays, Spectroscopy, Optical alignment, Diffraction, Optical design, Silicon, Charge-coupled devices, X-ray technology

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Proceedings Article | 6 July 2018 Presentation + Paper

Presentation + Paper

An x-ray transmission grating spectrometer for Lynx

Hans M. Günther, R. Heilmann

Proceedings Volume 10699, 1069914 (2018) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2314054

KEYWORDS: Photons, Mirrors, Spectral resolution, X-rays, Dispersion, Optical design, Point spread functions, X-ray astronomy, Astronomical spectrometers

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Proceedings Article | 6 July 2018 Paper

Paper

Ray-tracing Arcus in phase A

Hans M. Günther, R. Heilmann, E. Hertz, C. DeRoo, R. Smith, J. Wilms

Proceedings Volume 10699, 106996F (2018) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2312678

KEYWORDS: X-ray astronomy, Spectrographs, Charge-coupled devices, Spectral resolution, Photons, Tolerancing, Dispersion, Mirrors, Point spread functions

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Spectroscopy of soft X-rays is an extremely powerful tool to understand the physics of hot plasmas in the universe, but in many cases, such as kinematic properties of stellar emission lines or weak absorption features, we have reached the limits of current instrumentation. Critical-angle transmission (CAT) gratings blaze the dispersed spectra into high orders and also offer high throughput. We present detailed ray-traces for the Arcus mission, which promises an effective area > 300 cm² in the soft X-ray band. It uses four petals of Athena-like silicon pore optics. Each petal spans an azimuth of about 30 degrees and thus offers a point-spread function that is significantly narrower in one dimension than a full mirror would provide. Each of these channels has its own optical axis. For each channel, CAT gratings are arranged on a tilted Rowland torus, and the four separate tori are positioned to overlap in such a way that the dispersed spectra from both pairs can be imaged onto a common set of CCD detectors, while at the same time keeping the requirement of the spectroscopic focus. Our ray-traces show that a set of 16 CCDs is sufficient to cover both zeroth orders and most of the dispersed signal. We study the impact of misalignment, finite size of components, and spacecraft jitter on the spectral resolution and effective area and prove that the design achieves R > 3000 even in the presence of these non-ideal effects. In 2017, we presented the ray-traces for the initial Arcus proposal. Since then, Arcus was accepted for a phase A study and we have spent a lot of additional effort to tweak the optical design (for example, we originally intended to have two petals each share an optical axis, but decided against it to avoid alignment constraints) and to link it back to practical mechanical engineering tolerances. In the process, parameters that were only roughly known in the initial proposal have been set to much better than a millimeter, and effects that seemed not important initially have now been studied in much more detail. This contribution presents those detailed studies and tells the story how we used ray-traces to make a better instrument with a more robust design.

SPIE Journal Paper | 6 April 2018 Open Access

Open Access

Design of a broadband soft x-ray polarimeter

Herman Marshall, Hans Moritz Günther, Ralf Heilmann, Norbert Schulz, Mark Egan, Tim Hellickson, Sarah Trowbridge Heine, David Windt, Eric Gullikson, Brian Ramsey, Gianpiero Tagliaferri, Giovanni Pareschi

JATIS, Vol. 4, Issue 01, 011005, (April 2018) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.10.1117/1.JATIS.4.1.011005

KEYWORDS: Polarimetry, X-rays, Sensors, Polarization, Optical design, Photons, Mirrors, Reflectivity, Charge-coupled devices, Spectroscopy

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Proceedings Article | 29 August 2017 Paper

Paper

REDSoX: Monte-Carlo ray-tracing for a soft x-ray spectroscopy polarimeter

Hans Günther, Herman Marshall, Ralf Heilmann, Sarah N. Heine, Adam Theriault-Shay, Jason Frost, Mark Egan, Tim Hellickson, Norbert Schulz

Proceedings Volume 10399, 1039917 (2017) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2273772

KEYWORDS: Polarimetry, Mirrors, X-rays, Optical design, Polarization, Rockets, Monte Carlo methods

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Proceedings Article | 29 August 2017 Presentation + Paper

Presentation + Paper

Arcus: exploring the formation and evolution of clusters, galaxies, and stars

R. Smith, M. Abraham, R. Allured, M. Bautz, J. Bookbinder, J. Bregman, L. Brenneman, N. Brickhouse, D. Burrows, V. Burwitz, P. Cheimets, E. Costantini, S. Dawson, C. DeRoo, A. Falcone, A. Foster, L. Gallo, C. Grant, H. Günther, J. Miller, E. Morse, R. Mushotzky, K. Nandra, M. Nowak, F. Paerels, R. Petre, K. Poppenhaeger, A. Ptak, P. Reid, J. Sanders, M. Schattenburg, N. Schulz, A. Smale, P. Temi, L. Valencic, S. Walker, R. Willingale, J. Wilms, S. Wolk, R. Heilmann, E. Hertz, B. Hine, D. Huenemoerder, J. Kaastra, I. Kreykenbohm, K. Madsen, R. McEntaffer, E. Miller

Proceedings Volume 10397, 103970Q (2017) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2272818

KEYWORDS: X-rays, Imaging spectroscopy, Stars, Spectroscopy, Space operations, Spectral resolution, Galactic astronomy, Visible radiation, Computed tomography, Silicon

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Proceedings Article | 29 August 2017 Paper

Paper

The rocket experiment demonstration of a soft x-ray polarimeter (REDSoX Polarimeter)

Herman Marshall, Norbert Schulz, Ralf Heilmann, Brian Ramsey, Sarah Trowbridge Heine, Mark Egan, Tim Hellickson, H. Moritz Günther, David Windt, Eric Gullikson, Giovanni Pareschi, Gianpiero Tagliaferri, Svetlana Jorstad, Alan Marscher, Martin Weisskopf, Deepto Chakrabarty, Mark Schattenburg

Proceedings Volume 10397, 103970K (2017) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2274107

KEYWORDS: X-rays, Polarimetry, Rockets, Mirrors, Polarization, Imaging spectroscopy, X-ray astronomy, Spectroscopy, Astronomy, Reflectors

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Proceedings Article | 29 August 2017 Paper

Paper

Performance of a double tilted-Rowland-spectrometer on Arcus

R. Heilmann, P. Cheimets, R. Smith, Hans M. Günther

Proceedings Volume 10397, 103970P (2017) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2273011

KEYWORDS: Imaging spectroscopy, Computed tomography, X-rays, Spectral resolution, Charge-coupled devices, Spectroscopy, Tolerancing, Spectroscopes, Physics, Plasma

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Proceedings Article | 18 July 2016 Paper

Paper

Ray-tracing critical-angle transmission gratings for the X-ray Surveyor and Explorer-size missions

Hans M. Günther, Marshall Bautz, Ralf Heilmann, David Huenemoerder, Herman Marshall, Michael Nowak, Norbert Schulz

Proceedings Volume 9905, 990556 (2016) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2232157

KEYWORDS: X-rays, Optical design, Computed tomography, Spectral resolution, Spectroscopy, Mirrors, Photons, Sensors, Tolerancing, Point spread functions

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Showing 5 of 25 publications

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