X-ray submicrometer phase contrast imaging with a Fresnel zone plate and a two dimensional grating interferometer

Abstract

The application of a two dimensional (2D) grating interferometer-Fresnel zone plate combination for quantitative submicron phase contrast imaging is reported. The combination of the two optical elements allows quick recovery of the phase shift introduced by a sample in a hard X-ray beam, avoiding artifacts observed when using the one dimensional (1D) interferometer for a sample with features oriented in the unsensitive direction of the interferometer. The setup provides submicron resolution due to the optics magnification ratio and a fine sensitivity in both transverse orientations due to the 2D analysis gratings. The method opens up possibilities for sub-micro phase contrast tomography of microscopic objects made of light and/or homogeneous materials with randomly oriented features.

Hard-X-ray Zone Plates: Recent Progress

“…Quite innovative is the technique of combining FZPs and two-dimensional gratings for phase contrast imaging: Berujon et al [19] presented interesting results in 2012. The combination of the two elements notably allows the fast recovery of sample-induced phase shifts with less artifacts than, for example, a one-dimensional interferometer.…”

“…The technical evolution of zone plate devices for hard X-rays dramatically accelerated in the past two years [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29]. Milestones like a lateral resolution below 10 nm, formerly a dream, appear now realistic [1].…”

A compact synchrotron-based transmission X-ray microscope

“…Recent technical progress has greatly improved the performances of transmission X-ray microscope (TXM) instruments, notably the space resolution (Yin et al, 2006;Feng et al, 2007;Wojcik et al, 2010;Kuwabara et al, 2011;Uhlé n et al, 2011;David et al, 2011;Gorniak et al, 2011;Gorelick et al, 2011;Kagoshima et al, 2011;Chubarova et al, 2011;Mayer et al, 2011;Koyama et al, 2012;Berujon et al, 2012;Nilsson et al, 2012;Chao et al, 2012;Rehbein et al, 2012;Chu et al, 2008;Chen et al, 2008, opening up entirely new application domains of this powerful technique. However, the technical problems are far from being entirely solved.…”

Fabrication of two-dimensional hard X-ray diffraction gratings

“…Two-dimensional grating interferometry, which uses gratings structured in two dimensions rather than line gratings, has been used for phase and directional dark-field imaging [16][17][18] as well as for X-ray lens metrology [19].…”