Franz Pfeiffer (physicist)
{{short description|German physicist}}
{{Infobox scientist
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1972|11|25|df=y}}
| birth_place = Kösching, Germany
| nationality = German
| field = Physics
| workplaces = Technical University Munich
EPFL
Swiss Light Source
| alma_mater = Saarland University
Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
|awards = Leibniz Prize (2011)
| known_for = Grating-based phase-contrast X-ray imaging
Dark-field imaging
}}
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.
Research
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.{{Cite journal|last2=Weitkamp|first2=T.|last3=Bunk|first3=O.|last4=David|first4=C.|year=2006|title=Phase retrieval and differential phase-contrast imaging with low-brilliance X-ray sources|journal=Nature Physics|volume=2|issue=4|pages=258–261|bibcode=2006NatPh...2..258P|doi=10.1038/nphys265|last1=Pfeiffer|first1=F.|url=https://www.dora.lib4ri.ch/psi/islandora/object/psi%3A16114|doi-access=free}} 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.{{Cite journal|last2=Bech|first2=M.|last3=Bunk|first3=O.|last4=Kraft|first4=P.|last5=Eikenberry|first5=E. F.|last6=Brönnimann|first6=C.|last7=Grünzweig|first7=C.|last8=David|first8=C.|year=2008|title=Hard-X-ray dark-field imaging using a grating interferometer|journal=Nature Materials|volume=7|issue=2|pages=134–137|bibcode=2008NatMa...7..134P|doi=10.1038/nmat2096|pmid=18204454|last1=Pfeiffer|first1=F.}} 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,{{Cite journal|last1=Dierolf|first1=Martin|last2=Menzel|first2=Andreas|last3=Thibault|first3=Pierre|last4=Schneider|first4=Philipp|last5=Kewish|first5=Cameron M.|last6=Wepf|first6=Roger|last7=Bunk|first7=Oliver|last8=Pfeiffer|first8=Franz|date=2010-09-23|title=Ptychographic X-ray computed tomography at the nanoscale|journal=Nature|language=en|volume=467|issue=7314|pages=436–439|doi=10.1038/nature09419|pmid=20864997|issn=0028-0836|bibcode=2010Natur.467..436D|s2cid=2449015}} X-ray tensor tomography,{{Cite journal|last1=Schaff|first1=Florian|last2=Bech|first2=Martin|last3=Zaslansky|first3=Paul|last4=Jud|first4=Christoph|last5=Liebi|first5=Marianne|last6=Guizar-Sicairos|first6=Manuel|last7=Pfeiffer|first7=Franz|date=2015-11-19|title=Six-dimensional real and reciprocal space small-angle X-ray scattering tomography|journal=Nature|language=en|volume=527|issue=7578|pages=353–356|doi=10.1038/nature16060|pmid=26581292|issn=0028-0836|bibcode=2015Natur.527..353S|s2cid=4463780|url=https://research.monash.edu/en/publications/e5ce341d-3082-418a-ac4c-6f31d0909673 }}{{Cite journal|last1=Seyyedi|first1=Saeed|last2= Wieczorek|first2= Matthias|last3=Pfeffer|first3=Franz|last4=Lasser|first4=Tobias|date=2018-01-17|title=Incorporating a Noise Reduction Technique Into X-Ray Tensor Tomography|journal=IEEE Transactions on Computational Imaging|language=en|volume=4|issue=1|pages=137–146|doi=10.1109/TCI.2018.2794740|s2cid=46793582|issn= 2333-9403}} grating-based Neutron interferometric imaging{{Cite journal|last1=Pfeiffer|first1=F.|last2=Grünzweig|first2=C.|last3=Bunk|first3=O.|last4=Frei|first4=G.|last5=Lehmann|first5=E.|last6=David|first6=C.|date=2006-06-02|title=Neutron Phase Imaging and Tomography|journal=Physical Review Letters|volume=96|issue=21|pages=215505|doi=10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.215505|pmid=16803249|url=https://www.dora.lib4ri.ch/psi/islandora/object/psi%3A16534|bibcode=2006PhRvL..96u5505P}} and iterative CT reconstruction algorithms. He is author and co-author of more than 250{{Cite web|url=http://www.e17.ph.tum.de/en/people/franz-pfeiffer/|title=Chair of Biomedical Physics: Franz Pfeiffer|website=www.e17.ph.tum.de|language=en|access-date=2017-05-27|archive-date=2019-12-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191227025243/http://www.e17.ph.tum.de/en/people/franz-pfeiffer/|url-status=dead}} scientific publications and inventor in several patents.
In 2011 he was awarded the Leibniz Prize for his achievements in X-ray physics.
References
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Category:Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize winners
Category:21st-century German physicists
Category:Academic staff of the Technical University of Munich
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