Trends in synchrotron-based tomographic imaging: the SLS experience

Abstract

Synchrotron-based X-ray Tomographic Microscopy (SRXTM) is nowadays a powerful technique for non-destructive, high-resolution investigations of a broad kind of materials. High-brilliance and high-coherence third generation synchrotron radiation facilities allow micrometer and sub-micrometer, quantitative, three-dimensional imaging within very short time and extend the traditional absorption imaging technique to edge-enhanced and phase-sensitive measurements. At the Swiss Light Source TOMCAT, a new beamline for TOmographic Microscopy and Coherent rAdiology experimenTs, has been recently built and started regular user operation in June 2006. The new beamline get photons from a 2.9 T superbend with a critical energy of 11.1 keV. This makes energies above 20 keV easily accessible. To guarantee the best beam quality (stability and homogeneity), the number of optical elements has been kept to a minimum. A Double Crystal Multilayer Monochromator (DCMM) covers an energy range between 8 and 45 keV with a bandwidth of a few percent down to 10 −4 . The beamline can also be operated in white-beam mode, providing the ideal conditions for real-time coherent radiology. This article presents the beamline design, its optical components and the endstation. It further illustrates two recently developed phase contrast techniques and finally gives an overview of recent research topics which make intense use of SRXTM.

Developmental alveolarization of the mouse lung

“…Three to six samples of each timepoint were scanned at the Material Science-or TOMCAT-beamline, respectively, of the Swiss Light Source (SLS) of the Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI), Villigen, Switzerland (Stampanoni et al, 2002(Stampanoni et al, , 2006. The energy was tuned to 12.398 keV (corresponding to an X-ray wavelength of 1 Å).…”

Topological inversions in coalescing granular media control fluid-flow regimes

“…These are mounted on the synchrotronsource tomography beam line (TOMCAT) [18] and heated by lasers [19] at ∼5 K min −1 to isothermal temperatures T 0 above the glass transition interval T g , yielding highviscosity droplets; experiments at different T 0 yield different viscosities. The glass beads do not lose mass, and do not show liquid-liquid immiscibility or crystallize on the experimental time scales or at the temperatures tested, which has been confirmed previously by differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetry [2].…”

2D-Omnidirectional Hard-X-Ray Scattering Sensitivity in a Single Shot

“…The validity of the proposed technique was demonstrated with experimental measurements performed at the TOMCAT beam line [24], Swiss Light Source, Switzerland. The experimental setup is summarized in Fig.…”