Comparing image quality in phase contrast sub<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline" id="d1e2113" altimg="si51.svg"><mml:mi>μ</mml:mi></mml:math> X-ray tomography—A round-robin study

Zabler, Simon; Ullherr, Maximilian; Fella, Christian; Schielein, Richard; Focke, O.; Zeller‐Plumhoff, Berit; Lhuissier, Pierre; DeBoever, W.; Hanke, Randolf

doi:10.1016/j.nima.2019.162992

Cited by 10 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 20 publications

(24 reference statements)

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“…In‐line, or propagation‐based phase‐contrast X‐ray imaging (PBI) is especially promising for high‐resolution micro‐ and nano‐CT investigations of low‐density and low‐attenuation samples. It is finding more and more widespread applications due to the increased availability of CT scanners with micro‐ and nano‐focus laboratory X‐ray sources 8,9 . This makes the technique much more accessible to researchers outside of the synchrotron realm.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimizing and applying high‐resolution, in‐line laboratory phase‐contrast X‐ray imaging for low‐density material samples

Zboray

2021

Journal of Microscopy

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In‐line, or propagation‐based phase‐contrast X‐ray imaging (PBI) is an attractive alternative to the attenuation‐based modality for low‐density, soft samples showing low attenuation contrast. With the growing availability of micro‐ and nano‐focus X‐ray tubes, the method is increasingly applied in the laboratory. Here, we discuss the technique and demonstrate its advantages for selected low‐density, low attenuation material samples using a lab‐based micro‐ and nano‐computed tomography systems Easytom XL Ultra, providing micron and sub‐micron range resolution PBI images. We demonstrate a multi‐step optimization of the lab‐based PBI technique on our scanner that includes choosing the optimal detector‐source hardware combination available in the setup, then optimizing the imaging geometry and finally the phase retrieval process through a parametric study. We point out and elaborate on the effect of noise correlation and texturing due to phase retrieval. We demonstrate the overall benefits of using the phase image and the phase retrieval for the selected samples such as improved image quality, increased contrast‐to‐noise ratio while only marginally influencing the spatial resolution. The improvement in image quality also enables further image processing steps for detailed structural analysis of the samples, which would be much more complicated if not impossible based on the transmission image.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimizing and applying high‐resolution, in‐line laboratory phase‐contrast X‐ray imaging for low‐density material samples

Zboray

2021

Journal of Microscopy

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“…The time needed to perform a single measurements is considerable, which further complicates matters. The exposure times necessary at such resolutions often reach 30 seconds per projection, leading to scan times of more than 10 hours for one dataset [10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Voxel Size Calibration for High-resolution CT

Zemek¹,

Blažek²,

Šrámek³

et al. 2020

eJNDT

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In cone-beam X-ray computed tomography (CT), distances between the source, object, and detector influence the visual fidelity and voxel size of a reconstructed volume. Calibration using reference objects is an appropriate tool for preventing errors in the estimates of these distances. There is, however, a lack of such objects for high-resolution systems with a small field of view (FoV). In this work, we propose a method to measure the distances mentioned above, improving the determination of voxel size. We use a custom reference object suitable for a FoV of around one millimeter. Many approaches have been developed for this calibration task and discussed in the literature, but none apply to CT scanners with a small FoV and a cone-beam magnification close to one. The proposed method thus aims to provide a calibration procedure for such devices. A Rigaku Nano3DX CT scanner has been calibrated through this method and used for practical validation of the method's accuracy. Results have shown that this approach allows for accurate calibration, which leads to improvements in reconstruction quality and accuracy of voxel size determination.

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“…This source has been integrated into our follow-up in-house nano tomography system ntCT [17], which is further equipped with high precision positioning stages for tomography applications and a photon counting detector for the efficient detection of X-rays. First benchmarks of the system have recently been given in [18,19].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lenseless X-ray Nano-Tomography down to 150nm Resolution: On the Quantification of Modulation Transfer and Focal Spot of the Lab-based ntCT System

Graetz,

Müller,

Balles

et al. 2020

Preprint

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The ntCT nano tomography system is a geometrically magnifying X-ray microscopy system integrating the recent Excillum NanoTube nano-focus X-ray source and a CdTe photon counting detector from Dectris. The system's modulation transfer function (MTF) and corresponding point spread function (PSF) are characterized by analyzing the contrast visibility of periodic structures of a star pattern featuring line width from 150 nm to 1.5 µm. The results, which can be attributed to the characteristics of the source spot, are crosschecked by scanning the source's electron focus over an edge of the structured transmission target in order to obtain an independent measurement of its point spread function. For frequencies above 1000 linepairs/mm, the MTF is found to correspond to a Gaussian PSF of 250 nm full width at half maximum (FWHM). The lower frequency range down to 340 linepairs/mm shows an additional Gaussian contribution of 1 µm FWHM. The resulting resolution ranges at 3200 linepairs/mm, which is consistent with the visual detectability of the smallest 150 nm structures within the imaged star pattern.

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Comparing image quality in phase contrast subμ X-ray tomography—A round-robin study

Cited by 10 publications

References 20 publications

Optimizing and applying high‐resolution, in‐line laboratory phase‐contrast X‐ray imaging for low‐density material samples

Optimizing and applying high‐resolution, in‐line laboratory phase‐contrast X‐ray imaging for low‐density material samples

Voxel Size Calibration for High-resolution CT

Lenseless X-ray Nano-Tomography down to 150nm Resolution: On the Quantification of Modulation Transfer and Focal Spot of the Lab-based ntCT System

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