Towards x-ray differential phase contrast imaging on a compact setup

Abstract

A new imaging setup, aimed to perform differential X-ray phase contrast (DPC) imaging with a Talbot interferometer on a microfocus X-ray tube, is demonstrated. The main features compared to recently proposed setups are an extremely short source to detector distance, high spatial resolution and a large field of view. The setup is designed for an immediate integration into a industrial micro CT scanner. In this paper, technical challenges of a compact setup, namely the critical source coherence and divergence, are discussed. A theoretical analysis using wave optics based computer simulations is performed to estimate the DPC signal visibility and the size of the field of view for a given setup geometry. The maximization of the signal visibility as a function of the inter-grating distance yields the optimal grating parameters. Imaging results using the optimized grating parameters are presented. The reduction of the field of view, being a consequence of the high beam divergence, was solved by fabricating new, cylindrically bent diffraction gratings. The fabrication process of these gratings required a change of the currently used wafer materials and an adaption of the manufacturing techniques. The implementation of the new setup represents a major step forward for the industrial application of the DPC technique.