Design of a compact high-energy setup for x-ray phase-contrast imaging

Markus Schüttler; Andre Yaroshenko; Martin Bech; Guillaume Potdevin; Andreas Malecki; Michael Chabior; Johannes Wolf; Arne Tapfer; Jan Meiser; Danays Kunka; Maximilian Amberger; Jürgen Mohr; Franz Pfeiffer

doi:10.1117/12.2042892

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19 March 2014 Design of a compact high-energy setup for x-ray phase-contrast imaging

Markus Schüttler, Andre Yaroshenko, Martin Bech, Guillaume Potdevin, Andreas Malecki, Michael Chabior, Johannes Wolf, Arne Tapfer, Jan Meiser, Danays Kunka, Maximilian Amberger, Jürgen Mohr, Franz Pfeiffer

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Proceedings Volume 9033, Medical Imaging 2014: Physics of Medical Imaging; 90334Y (2014) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2042892
Event: SPIE Medical Imaging, 2014, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

The main shortcoming of conventional biomedical x-ray imaging is the weak soft-tissue contrast caused by the small differences in the absorption coefficients between different materials. This issue can be addressed by x-ray phasesensitive imaging approaches, e.g. x-ray Talbot-Lau grating interferometry. The advantage of the three-grating Talbot-Lau approach is that it allows to acquire x-ray phase-contrast and dark-field images with a conventional lab source. However, through the introduction of the grating interferometer some constraints are imposed on the setup geometry. In general, the grating pitch and the mean x-ray energy determine the setup dimensions. The minimal length of the setup increases linearly with energy and is proportional to p², where p is the grating pitch. Thus, a high-energy (100 keV) compact grating-based setup for x-ray imaging can be realized only if gratings with aspect-ratio of approximately 300 and a pitch of 1-2 μm were available. However, production challenges limit the availability of such gratings. In this study we consider the use of non-binary phase-gratings as means of designing a more compact grating interferometer for phase-contrast imaging. We present simulation and experimental data for both monochromatic and polychromatic case. The results reveal that phase-gratings with triangular-shaped structures yield visibilities that can be used for imaging purposes at significantly shorter distances than binary gratings. This opens the possibility to design a high-energy compact setup for x-ray phase-contrast imaging. Furthermore, we discuss different techniques to achieve triangular-shaped phase-shifting structures.

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Markus Schüttler, Andre Yaroshenko, Martin Bech, Guillaume Potdevin, Andreas Malecki, Michael Chabior, Johannes Wolf, Arne Tapfer, Jan Meiser, Danays Kunka, Maximilian Amberger, Jürgen Mohr, and Franz Pfeiffer "Design of a compact high-energy setup for x-ray phase-contrast imaging", Proc. SPIE 9033, Medical Imaging 2014: Physics of Medical Imaging, 90334Y (19 March 2014); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2042892

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