Chemical element mapping by x-ray computational ghost fluorescence

Abstract

Chemical element mapping is an imaging tool that provides essential information on composite materials and it is crucial for a broad range of fields ranging from fundamental science to numerous applications. Methods that exploit x-ray fluorescence are very advantageous and are widely used, but require focusing of the input beam and raster scanning of the sample. Thus the methods are slow and exhibit limited resolution due to focusing challenges. We demonstrate a new focusing free x-ray fluorescence method based ghost imaging that overcomes those limitations. We combine our procedure with compressed sensing to reduce the measurement time and the exposure to radiation by more than 80%. Since our method does not require focusing, it opens the possibility for improving the resolution and image quality of chemical element maps with tabletop x-ray sources and for extending the applicability of x-ray fluorescence detection to new fields such as medical imaging and homeland security applications.

High-resolution computed tomography with scattered X-ray radiation and a single pixel detector

“…This agrees with the width of the measured autocorrelation function Extended Data Fig. 4 and indicates that further improvement of the spatial resolution is feasible by a simple reduction of the speckle size 34 . As shown in Extended Data Fig.…”

“…This is because in CGI the spatial information is derived from the spatially modulated beam, which interacts with the object, rather than from the detector pixels. While X-ray CGI has been demonstrated with transmitted [30][31][32][33] , fluorescent 34 , and refracted radiation 35 , we apply it to incoherent scattered radiation.…”

“…It is worth mentioning that although cameras based on the Compton effect are available (34,35), their resolution is poor due to the tendency of scattered radiation to blur. As a result, they are not suitable for medical imaging, unlike our proposed method which provides higher resolution and better image quality (35,36).…”

A ghost imaging framework based on laser mode speckle pattern for underwater environments

“…These patterns are used to form a reconstructed image through correlation calculation. Owing to its wide range of light sources and strong anti-interference ability, GI has attracted significant attention in several related fields such as X-ray imaging 1 , 2 , terahertz imaging 3 , acoustic imaging 4 , three-dimensional imaging 5 , 6 , fluorescence imaging 1 , optical encryption 7 , 8 , and underwater imaging 9 – 15 . The application scenarios and influencing factors of GI are depicted in Fig.…”

Laser mode speckle ghost imaging of underwater environments

“…The comparison of the imaging qualities of orthogonal and random speckle patterns in air 13 has shown that orthogonal speckle patterns are more suitable for low-sampling CGI. Owing to its wide range of light sources and strong antiinterference ability, GI has attracted significant attention in several related fields such as X-ray imaging 14,15 , terahertz imaging 16 , acoustic imaging 17 , three-dimensional imaging 18,19 , fluorescence imaging 14 , optical encryption 20,21 , and underwater imaging [22][23][24][25][26][27] . Application scenarios and influencing factors of GI are shown in Fig.…”