A new method in diffraction-enhanced imaging computed tomography （DEI-CT） that follows the idea developed by Chapman et al. [Chapman D, Thomlinson W, Johnston R E, Washburn D, Pisano E, Gmur N, Zhong Z, Menk R, Arfelli F and Sayers D 1997 Phys. Med. BioL 42 2015] in 1997 is proposed in this paper. Merged with a ＂reverse projections＂ algorithm, only two sets of projection datasets at two defined orientations of the analyzer crystal are needed to reconstruct the linear absorption coefficient, the decrement of the real part of the refractive index and the linear scattering coefficient of the sample. Not only does this method reduce the delivered dose to the sample without degrading the image quality, but, compared with the existing DEI-CT approaches, it simplifies data-acquisition procedures. Experimental results confirm the reliability of this new method for DEI-CT applications.
Grating-based X-ray phase contrast imaging has been demonstrated to he an extremely powerful phase-sensitive imaging technique. By using two-dimensional （2D） gratings, the observable contrast is extended to two refraction directions. Recently, we have developed a novel reverse-projection （RP） method, which is capable of retrieving the object information efficiently with one-dimensional （1D） grating-based phase contrast imaging. In this contribution, we present its extension to the 2D grating-based X-ray phase contrast imaging, named the two-dimensional reverse- projection （2D-RP） method, for information retrieval. The method takes into account the nonlinear contributions of two refraction directions and allows the retrieval of the absorption, the horizontal and the vertical refraction images. The obtained information can be used for the reconstruction of the three-dimensionak phase gradient field, and for an improved phase map retrieval and reconstruction. Numerical experiments are carried out, and the results confirm the validity of the 2D-RP method.
In this work, we extensively describe and demonstrate the structured dark-field imaging(SDFI). SDFI is a newly proposed x-ray microscopy designed for revealing the fine features below Rayleigh resolution, in which different orders of scattered x-ray photons are collected by changing the numerical aperture of the condenser. Here, the samples of single particles are discussed to extend the scope of the SDFI technique reported in a previous work(Chen J, Gao K, Ge X, et al.2013 Opt. Lett. 38 2068). In addition, the details of the newly invented algorithm are explained, which is able to calculate the intensity of any pixel on the image plane rapidly and reliably.
Diffraction enhanced imaging （DEI） has been widely applied in many fields, especially when imaging low-Z samples or when the difference in the attenuation coefficient between different regions in the sample is too small to be detected. Recent developments of this technique have presented a need for a new software package for data analysis. Here, the Diffraction Enhanced Image Reconstructor （DEIReconstructor）, developed in Matlab, is presented. DEIReconstructor has a user-friendly graphical user interface and runs under any of the 32~bit or 64- bit Microsoft Windows operating systems including XP and WinT. Many of its features are integrated to support imaging preprocessing, extract absorption, refractive and scattering information of diffraction enhanced imaging and allow for parallel-beam tomography reconstruction for DEI-CT. Furthermore, many other useful functions are also implemented in order to simplify the data analysis and the presentation of results. The compiled software package is freely available.
The relationship between noise variance and spatial resolution in grating-based x-ray phase computed tomography（PCT） imaging is investigated with reverse projection extraction method, and the noise variances of the reconstructed absorption coefficient and refractive index decrement are compared. For the differential phase contrast method, the noise variance in the differential projection images follows the same inverse-square law with spatial resolution as in conventional absorption-based x-ray imaging projections. However, both theoretical analysis and simulations demonstrate that in PCT the noise variance of the reconstructed refractive index decrement scales with spatial resolution follows an inverse linear relationship at fixed slice thickness, while the noise variance of the reconstructed absorption coefficient conforms with the inverse cubic law. The results indicate that, for the same noise variance level, PCT imaging may enable higher spatial resolution than conventional absorption computed tomography（ACT）, while ACT benefits more from degraded spatial resolution. This could be a useful guidance in imaging the inner structure of the sample in higher spatial resolution.
