Interferometric hard x-ray phase contrast imaging at 204 nm grating period

Abstract

We report on hard x-ray phase contrast imaging experiments using a grating interferometer of approximately 1/10th the grating period achieved in previous studies. We designed the gratings as a staircase array of multilayer stacks which are fabricated in a single thin film deposition process. We performed the experiments at 19 keV x-ray energy and 0.8 μm pixel resolution. The small grating period resulted in clear separation of different diffraction orders and multiple images on the detector. A slitted beam was used to remove overlap of the images from the different diffraction orders. The phase contrast images showed detailed features as small as 10 μm, and demonstrated the feasibility of high resolution x-ray phase contrast imaging with nanometer scale gratings.

Holotomography versus X-ray grating interferometry: A comparative study

“…For a spatial resolution better than 10 lm, HT is the better choice, unless gratings with much smaller periods become widely available. 30 To detect the fringes in propagation-based phase-contrast imaging with large pixels, very long and often impractical propagation distances are required. In these cases, XGI is technically the method of choice.…”

Motionless phase stepping in X-ray phase contrast imaging with a compact source

“…As indicated by the white arrows, numerous details emerge in the phase-contrast enhanced image which cannot be clearly seen in the intensity attenuation image. imaging, grating periods of a few hundred nanometers are being developed for greater phase sensitivity (32,33). Here, electromagnetic phase stepping may become a necessity, as precise mechanical movement at the nanometric level may be difficult to achieve outside the most favorable settings.…”

Interaction between periodic structures of object and X-ray standing wave generated by wavefront-division interferometer

“…3 Recently, formation of x-ray standing wave in free space has been demonstrated in the various interferometer optics, total-reflection mirror optics, 4 single prism optics, 5 bi-prism interferometer, 6,7 double Fresnel zone plate, 8 combination of Fresnel zone plate and total-reflection mirror optics, 9 refractive bi-lens optics, 10 grating-based interferometer in a refection geometry, 11 and a a) e-mail: yoshio@spring8.or.jp transmission geometry. 12 The interaction between the freespace standing wave and the periodic object was also demonstrated with the bi-lens interferometer system. 10 Here, a twobeam interferometer with single-prism optics for generation of short-period standing wave is proposed, and its application to x-ray imaging is shown to overcome the spatial resolution limit of the imaging detector.…”