Multi-beam X-ray ptychography for high-throughput coherent diffraction imaging

Abstract

X-ray ptychography is a rapidly developing coherent diffraction imaging technique that provides nanoscale resolution on extended field-of-view. However, the requirement of coherence and the scanning mechanism limit the throughput of ptychographic imaging. In this paper, we propose X-ray ptychography using multiple illuminations instead of single illumination in conventional ptychography. Multiple locations of the sample are simultaneously imaged by spatially separated X-ray beams, therefore, the obtained field-of-view in one scan can be enlarged by a factor equal to the number of illuminations. We have demonstrated this technique experimentally using two X-ray beams focused by a house-made Fresnel zone plate array. Two areas of the object and corresponding double illuminations were successfully reconstructed from diffraction patterns acquired in one scan, with image quality similar with those obtained by conventional single-beam ptychography in sequence. Multi-beam ptychography approach increases the imaging speed, providing an efficient way for high-resolution imaging of large extended specimens.

Principles of Different X-ray Phase-Contrast Imaging: A Review

“…Furthermore, Lo et al demonstrated X-ray linear dichroic ptychography and mapped the c-axis orientations of aragonite crystals [76]. Additionally, in 2020, Yao et al applied multiple illuminations to the method and successfully received an extended FOV [77].…”

Multi-beam ptychography with coded Fresnel zone plates

“…Research by many groups has focused on boosting ptychographic performance. [4][5][6][7][8][9][10] Among suggestions, socalled multi-beam ptychography makes use of multiple probes in parallel. [6][7][8][9][10] This approach offers an increase in field of view by a factor as large as the number of implemented X-ray probes for the same exposure time and resolution.…”

“…[4][5][6][7][8][9][10] Among suggestions, socalled multi-beam ptychography makes use of multiple probes in parallel. [6][7][8][9][10] This approach offers an increase in field of view by a factor as large as the number of implemented X-ray probes for the same exposure time and resolution. It uses more photons from the source at the cost of encoding more information in the same diffraction patterns, which lowers the redundancy in the dataset.…”

“…Multi-beam ptychography has been demonstrated for reflective optics, 8 for distant Fresnel zone plates (FZPs), 7 and for closely spaced refractive optics that result in overlapping diffraction patterns (to-be-sorted by the implemented ptychographic computational algorithm). 9,10 It was also shown that implementing coded probes improves ptychographic performance.…”

Upscaling of multi-beam x-ray ptychography for efficient x-ray microscopy with high resolution and large field of view

“…8 This can be achieved because each beam only needs to be coherent with itself and can be incoherent to all other beams. Multiple groups have demonstrated multi-beam x-ray ptychography using pinholes 9 or Fresnel zone plates 10 to create the beams. However, these schemes leave large parts of the incoming beam unused, as both the pinholes and the zone plates require a significant dead area between the individual optics.…”