{
  "abstract": "Wide-field localization of transient sources such as gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) places new demands on the grid design of modulation collimators, whose usable field of view (FOV) is normally limited by self-vignetting. A grid slat thick enough to be opaque at the energies of interest also clips off-axis rays, shrinking the effective slit width and ultimately defining the FOV itself. Historical bigrid or rotating-modulation-collimator (RMC) designs have been designed with this trade-off as an unavoidable consequence of geometric optics. We explore whether the cross-sectional shape of the grid slats can be optimized for wide FOV applications. We derive a general transmission-function framework for a bigrid pair in terms of an effective slit width that depends on slat geometry and use it to compare four slat cross sections: the conventional rectangular slat, an idealized diamond profile, a hexagonal profile that approximates photochemical etching, and the circular wire grids of early X-ray astronomy. We show that for the same bigrid pitch and thickness, a diamond profile extends the FOV and eliminates clipping throughout most of the field. We also demonstrate that a hexagonal profile achievable with standard tungsten etching factors captures many of the benefits of the idealized diamond profile. Extending the analysis to the four-phase demodulation, we show that slat shape directly sets the extent of the resulting phase-space blind spots, and that the diamond profile removes them entirely across a target FOV where the rectangular baseline cannot. We further show that finite grid opacity is a largely separable effect. Leakage through the grid leaves the geometric blind-spot boundaries unchanged. These results identify slat cross-sectional shape as a design parameter that can substantially increase throughput and widen the blind-spot-free field of view of a wide-field modulation collimator.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": "2610.05523",
  "author_total": 1,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Steven E. Boggs"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/czwzbdj34eagh.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2610.05523",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "czwzbdj34eagh",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.05523",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "arxiv",
      "astro-ph.HE"
    ],
    [
      "arxiv",
      "astro-ph.IM"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "3105|Astronomy and Astrophysical Research"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7220654862",
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2610.05523",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-04",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/czwzbdj34eagh.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:27:01Z",
      "native_id": "2610.05523",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.05523"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "astronomy",
      "origin": "arxiv:astro-ph.HE",
      "subfield": "high-energy-astrophysics"
    },
    {
      "field": "astronomy",
      "origin": "arxiv:astro-ph.IM",
      "subfield": "instrumentation-methods"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Grid Optimization for Wide Field Modulation Collimators",
  "title_text": "Grid Optimization for Wide Field Modulation Collimators",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:27:01Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/czwzbdj34eagh",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": []
}