Here we report a method for increased resolution of single exposure three modality x-ray images using super-resolution. The three x-ray image modalities are absorption-, differential phase-contrast-, and dark-field-images. To create super-resolution, a non-mechanically movable micro-focus x-ray source is used. A series of almost identical x-ray projection images is obtained while the point source is translated in a two-dimensional grid pattern. The three image modalities are extracted from fourier space using spatial harmonic analysis, also known as the single-shot method. Using super-resolution on the low-resolution series of the three modalities separately results in high-resolution images for the modalities. This approach allows to compensate for the inherent loss in resolution caused by the single-shot method without increasing the need for stability or algorithms accounting for possible motion.
In this paper, super-resolution imaging is described and evaluated for x-ray tomography and is compared with standard tomography and upscaling during reconstruction. Blurring is minimized due to the negligible point spread of photon counting detectors and an electromagnetically movable micro-focus x-ray spot. Scans are acquired in high and low magnification geometry, where the latter is used to minimize penumbral blurring from the x-ray source. Sharpness and level of detail can be significantly increased in reconstructed slices to the point where the source size becomes the limiting factor. The achieved resolution of the different methods is quantified and compared using biological samples via the edge spread function, modulation transfer function, and Fourier ring correlation.
Coherent X-ray imaging techniques, such as in-line holography, exploit the high brilliance provided by diffraction-limited storage rings to perform imaging sensitive to the electron density through contrast due to the phase shift, rather than conventional attenuation contrast. Thus, coherent X-ray imaging techniques enable high-sensitivity and low-dose imaging, especially for low-atomic-number (Z) chemical elements and materials with similar attenuation contrast. Here, the first implementation of in-line holography at the NanoMAX beamline is presented, which benefits from the exceptional focusing capabilities and the high brilliance provided by MAX IV, the first operational diffraction-limited storage ring up to approximately 300 eV. It is demonstrated that in-line holography at NanoMAX can provide 2D diffraction-limited images, where the achievable resolution is only limited by the 70 nm focal spot at 13 keV X-ray energy. Also, the 3D capabilities of this instrument are demonstrated by performing holotomography on a chalk sample at a mesoscale resolution of around 155 nm. It is foreseen that in-line holography will broaden the spectra of capabilities of MAX IV by providing fast 2D and 3D electron density images from mesoscale down to nanoscale resolution.
Material decomposition in computed tomography is a method for differentiation and quantification of materials in a sample and it utilizes the energy dependence of the linear attenuation coefficient. In this study, a post-image reconstruction material decomposition method is constructed for a low-energy micro-CT setup using a photon counting x-ray detector. The low photon energy range (4–11 keV) allows for K-edge contrast separation of naturally occurring materials in organic tissue without the need of additional contrast agents. The decomposition method was verified using a phantom and its capability to decompose biomedical samples was evaluated with paraffin embedded human atherosclerotic plaques. Commonly, the necessary dual energy data for material decomposition is obtained by manipulating the emitted x-ray spectrum from the source. With the photon counting detector, this data was obtained by acquiring two energy window images on each side of the K-edge of one material in the sample. The samples were decomposed into three materials based on attenuation values in manually selected regions. The method shows a successful decomposition of the verification phantom and a distinct distribution of iron, calcium and paraffin in the atherosclerotic plaque samples. Though the decompositions are affected by beam hardening and ring artifacts, the method shows potential for spectral evaluation of biomedical samples.
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