Effects of internal scattering on X-ray microtomography imagereconstruction

A computer simulation is used to study the problem of internal scattering for targets that are imaged using X-ray microtomography. A strategy is outlined for selecting X-ray energy and image resolution based on properties of the material being imaged. The X-ray scanning process is simulated by applying a Monte Carlo technique to a modeled target that emulates the material properties of a microelectronic device. The X-ray photons are subject to photoelectric absorption, Rayleigh scattering, and Compton scattering. The simulation applies a method of high-resolution image reconstruction based on discrete Fourier transforms. Examples of reconstructed images that have 0.5-μm spatial resolution are shown for images of simulated lead and aluminum targets     

同步辐射微束X射线荧光CT的计算机模拟

同步辐射微束X射线荧光CT是一种能无损、高空间分辨和高灵敏地探测样品内部元素含量和分布的新技术,是在建的上海光源(SSRF)硬X射线微聚焦及应用光束线站可开展的实验方法之一.本文简要介绍了同步辐射微束X射线荧光CT的基本原理和实验技术发展,对同步辐射微束X射线荧光CT实验进行了计算机模拟,用滤波反投影算法(FBP)、代数重构算法(ART)和加吸收修正的FBP算法重构了模拟样品的图像.对各种重构方法得到的图像质量进行了分析和比较,讨论了其适用性.     

A synchrotron radiation microprobe for X-ray fluorescence and microtomography at ELETTRA

A synchrotron radiation microscope based on X-ray fluorescence and computed microtomography for advanced applications in biomedicine, environmental sciences, geology and materials science is described. This microscope will utilize the radiation produced by a bending magnet of ELETTRA, the third-generation, high-brilliance synchrotron radiation facility being built in Trieste. Various wide-band-pass mirror systems operating in an energy range between 7 and 17 keV have been designed. For example, multilayer-coated mirrors in the Kirkpatrick-Baez configuration can produce a spatial resolution of 1 μm² for a flux in excess of 10⁸ photons per second on the sample (E = 12 keV, E/ΔE = 10). This X-ray microprobe will allow micrometric mapping of trace and minor elements and computed tomographic imaging with high resolution, opening a new realm of experiments in different fields of science, such as in vivo elemental scanning and microtomography of cultured cells, analysis of single atmospheric particulates, analysis of cosmic debris collected from the stratosphere and antarctic ice, etc. The preliminary design of the beam line and the performance of the microprobe are discussed.     

Improvement of the position resolution of the CCD for X-ray use

The authors report here experimental results relating X-ray interaction location and event splitting. The X-ray interaction location can be localized at subpixel scale using the mesh technique. The authors found that the center of gravity of the split event is well-correlated with the X-ray interaction location. They analyzed the data using two models for the charge cloud shape: one is the rectangular model and the other is the Gaussian model. Although the authors could not distinguish between these models, they measured a root mean square charge cloud size of 1 to 2 μm for X-rays of Y-L (1.9 keV), Ag-L (3.0 keV), and Ti-K (4.5 keV). When the X-rays enter near the pixel boundary, the charge splits into adjacent pixels, allowing determination of the X-ray interaction location with an accuracy of 1.5 to 2.2 μm. The authors, therefore, expect that the X-ray CCD can function as an X-ray imager with subpixel resolution, which will be especially useful in applications involving very high spatial resolution optics     

X-ray microprobe – A new facility for cell irradiations in Kraków

A new, multi-purpose X-ray microprobe has been constructed in Kraków. The Hamamatsu L9191 microfocusing X-ray tube is used as a source of radiation. The microprobe is equipped with three dedicated experimental lines serving for the computed microtomography (CMT), for micro-XRF or TXRF measurements (micro-X-ray induced Fluorescence, Total reflexion XRF) and for mammalian cell irradiations. Details of the construction of the experimental line dedicated to irradiations are presented.     

Internal elemental imaging by scanning X-ray fluorescence microtomography at the hard X-ray microprobe beamline of the SSRF: Preliminary experimental results

Synchrotron-based X-ray micro-fluorescence (μ-SXRF) is a non-destructive analytical technique and has been widely used to detect and quantify the elemental composition of samples in their natural state. To determine the internal elemental distributions within samples, X-ray fluorescence microtomography has been developed based on the hard X-ray microprobe at beamline BL15U1 of the Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF) in Shanghai, China. This technique was applied to image the cross-sectional distributions of multiple elements within a single human hair, and its validity was evaluated by comparing the results with the elemental maps of a thin hair section obtained using the well-established μ-SXRF mapping method. Elemental images of S, Ca, Mn, Fe, Cu, and Zn within a virtual slice of the hair were reconstructed after the tomographic measurements. The tomographic images of heavy elements like Fe, Cu, and Zn were found to be in good agreement with the corresponding μ-SXRF maps. Light elements, such as S, however, represented different patterns due to non-negligible self-absorption in the sample, and sophisticated correction algorithms accounting for such effects are required for obtaining qualitatively and quantitatively more accurate images. Compared to μ-SXRF mapping, X-ray fluorescence microtomography reduces the sample preparation requirements and has been demonstrated in this work as being a more ideal and effective imaging modality to non-destructively mapping out the internal distribution of heavy elements within samples at the micrometer scale at the SSRF.     

White beam synchrotron topography using a high resolution digital X-ray imaging detector

X-ray topography is a well known imaging technique to characterise strain and extended defects in single crystals. Topographs are typically collected on X-ray films. On the one hand such photographic films show a limited dynamic range and the production of films will be discontinued step by step in the near future. On the other hand new imaging detectors improved for X-ray tomography become more and more attractive even for topography because of increasing resolution, dynamic range, speed and active area. In this paper we report about the upgrade of the TOPO-TOMO beamline at the synchrotron light source ANKA, Research Centre Karlsruhe, with a high resolution digital camera for the topography use.     

Characterization and applications of a new tabletop confocal micro X-ray fluorescence setup

A tabletop confocal three-dimensional micro X-ray fluorescence (3D micro-XRF) setup was designed, based on polycapillary X-ray optics and a micro-focus X-ray source. This confocal setup consists of a polycapillary full lens to focus the incident beam and a polycapillary half lens to collect the X-ray fluorescence. The confocal volume was proved to be ellipsoidal. The full-width at half maximum (FWHM) of the confocal volume in three directions were measured with a “knife edge” scan method to obtain the spatial resolution of the confocal setup. The structure of multilayer samples was studied using the depth scan technique.     

一种新型X射线相衬成像实验室系统

目前的X射线相衬成像研究大都采用同步辐射光源。光源点尺寸达微米量级的X射线管辐射具有较好的空间相干性，也可用于相衬成像研究。本文报道了一种基于纳聚焦x射线管的新型相衬成像实验室系统，光源点尺寸可达500nm。实验结果表明，该系统可对低Z样品如生物软组织、有机样品等的内部结构成清晰像，分辨率可达微米量级。与已有系统相比较，其空间分辨率和有效通量都有相当大的提高。锥形光束张角约为300，通过纵向扫描机构调节样品与光源点间距可调整投影放大率，从而降低对探测器分辨率的要求。适用于大样品研究，且可实现样品的横向二维扫描。在医学、生物学、材料科学及化学反应动力学等领域有重要应用前景。     

3D strain imaging in sub-micrometer crystals using cross-reciprocal space measurements: Numerical feasibility and experimental methodology

Direct inversion of coherent X-ray diffraction patterns is a powerful method to image strains in individual crystals with a high spatial resolution, less than 10 nm. The possibility to invert the diffraction pattern is in principle ensured by the oversampling of the measurement. In addition, the resolution of the reconstructed object requires the measurement of the intensity distribution as far as possible in reciprocal space. Thus, fulfilling the oversampling and resolution constraints, in 3D, implies very long acquisition times, hardly compatible with the stability of the X-ray synchrotron source or sample. To overcome this problem, we present a method based on partial crossed intensity measurements: it consists in two irregularly spaced intensity measurements taken in two orthogonal directions. This paper demonstrates that partial crossed intensity measurements are in principle sufficient to reconstruct 2D objects using a phase retrieval algorithm. We also describe how such measurements can be achieved in practice for 3D imaging. 3D intensity measurements taken in two orthogonal directions for a 111 Bragg peak of a sub-micrometer Au grain are shown.     

Monte Carlo calculation of point-spread functions of Comptonscatter cameras

A technique has been devised for independently determining the energy and spatial resolution components of the point-spread functions of electronically collimated (Compton scatter) imaging devices using a Monte Carlo method. Monte Carlo runs are performed for the device being examined, and detailed records of exact energy loss and spatial coordinates of each interaction for each particle in the simulation are made. Taking resolution parameters from the known performance of the detectors, measured data is simulated by sampling from Gaussian distributions (for both energy and position) about the exact interaction energy and position in both detectors, for each Monte Carlo history. By back-projecting cones on an event-by-event basis and calculating the closest approach of the cone to the known source point using the simulated measurement data for one of the energy and position variables and the exact interaction data for the rest of the variables, the effect of the variable in question on the point spread can be isolated. In this paper the authors present the calculations of the contribution to the point-spread function of the energy and spatial resolution in each detector for various source positions for a representative Compton camera configuration     

中子全息术中孪生像消除模拟

在中子全息照相的记录过程中,参考波与物波近似沿同一方向传播至全息屏,并在重建时形成不可分离的原像和共轭像,在特定波长下,两者可能干涉相消,产生孪生像现象。受制于中子探测效率和单色器能量分辨率,目前中子全息成像中孪生像的消除技术尚未得到系统的理论和实验研究。本文采用数值方法对已成功应用于X射线全息孪生像消除的两种全息记录及重建技术展开模拟,讨论基于研究堆的中子全息成像技术实现孪生像消除的可行性,并从实验效率和重建质量出发,对单色器分辨率、波数记录间隔、波数记录范围等关键参数进行定量分析和优化选取。结果表明,在研究堆中子源相对较低的单色器分辨率和较窄的可选能区条件下,通过记录2~4个不同能点的全息图即可获取较理想的中子全息重建结果。     

X-ray CCD相机在杆箍缩二极管X射线焦斑诊断中的应用

针孔成像法是诊断杆箍缩二极管X射线焦斑的常用方法。本文建立基于增感屏、光锥耦合、CCD相机的X-ray CCD相机系统,取代针孔成像法中基于闪烁体、物镜、CCD相机的图像获取系统,提高了诊断系统的紧凑性。对所建立的X-ray CCD相机系统的空间分辨能力进行了测试,系统的空间分辨能力受增感屏限制,使用铅制分辨卡测得系统的空间分辨率为5lp/mm,使用刀口法测得调制传递函数为0.5时的频率为1.5lp/mm。测试结果表明,在针孔成像倍率为0.5时,可满足1.5 mm左右的X射线焦斑诊断的需要。并开展了杆箍缩二极管侧面焦斑诊断实验,获得了侧面焦斑图像,且进行了图像复原处理。     

X-ray microtomography analysis and Molecular Dynamics calculations to understand the dynamic damage process in metals

Dynamic ductile damage has been created by a laser driven shock. The study of these processes consists of predicting it and analysing spatial distributions of pores observed in the target. The challenge is to use the Molecular Dynamics to calculate the propagation of shock waves in ultra thin sheets of metal as well as to compare results with ESRF’s X-ray microtomography.     

Information depth and spatial resolution in BSE microtomography in SEM

Various methods of visualizing subsurface structures using the scanning electron microscope (SEM) in the backscattered electrons (BSE) mode are analyzed. The problems of image contrast and “in-depth” resolution of layered microstructures are discussed. The potentials of BSE microtomography, i.e. layer-by-layer formation of images of undersurface inhomogeneities are demonstrated by experiment.     

Method for super Fresnel resolution in electromagnetic diagnostics of inhomogeneous plasma

The method of electromagnetic diagnostics is suggested, which promises to perform super Fresnel resolution of plasma inhomogeneities, that is resolution, distinguishing details smaller than Fresnel radius. To realize super Fresnel resolution it is suggested to represent the wave field of the source in the form of double weighted Fourier transform (DWFT), deals with Fourier transform simultaneously in coordinates of the sources and in coordinates of receivers. Important property of DWFT is that DWFT transfers into geometrical optics (GO) approximation for smooth inhomogeneous media and becomes equivalent to the Rytov or to small angle Born approximation in the case of weak inhomogeneities. As a result, inverse DWFT allows obtaining linear integral of plasma density both for large scale inhomogeneities, as in GO approximation, and also for inhomogeneities, whose transverse sizes are small as compared with Fresnel radius. DWFT embraces also the results of the phase screen method and allows to take into account phenomenon of micro-multirayness and to describe strong amplitude fluctuations.Using inverse DWFT algorithm, the authors study resolution of systems consisting of discrete sources and receivers. Both analytical estimates and the results of numerical modeling evidence opportunity to observe small scale plasma inhomogeneities with super Fresnel resolution.     

X射线源针孔成像系统优化设计研究

为提高X射线源针孔成像系统的性能,对成像能区为10~100 keV的X射线源针孔成像系统进行了优化设计研究。综合应用了理论分析和蒙特卡罗模拟的方法,首先根据X射线波长、准直器角响应和X射线穿透效应对针孔成像的不同影响结果设计了可有效控制成像分辨率和成像面积变化的船底型准直器,随后用蒙特卡罗方法对使用该准直器的针孔成像系统进行了模拟验证。结果表明,对于100 keV以下的X射线,经船底型准直器后,成像的空间分辨率和亮斑亮度较稳定,能得到相对准确的X射线源定位、定量信息。     

X-ray imaging sensor using CdTe crystals for dual energy X-rayabsorptiometry

The authors have designed and built a multi-channel cadmium telluride detector array to test its suitability as an X-ray imaging sensor for dual energy X-ray absorptiometry. The X-ray imaging sensor was constructed of 64 CdTe detector elements with high frequency current amplifiers, discriminators, and counters. The detector elements were operated in the photon counting mode and output pulses induced by the X-ray photons were separated into two energy levels according to their height. The energy resolution of the detector elements was 18.7% to 59.54 keV gamma-rays. In combination with a K-edge filter to produce dual energy X-rays, the X-ray imaging sensor was able to generate two energy X-ray images simultaneously over a short time. By applying a simple energy subtraction method to these images, bone phantoms were distinguished from the overlying tissue phantoms and their densities could be successfully measured. It was clearly demonstrated that this X-ray imaging sensor using CdTe crystals has good potential for high speed bone densitometry     

脉冲X射线衍射法测量冲击加载下的晶格形变量

脉冲X射线衍射可实现冲击加载下材料晶格形变量的在线测量。在建立晶格形变量的脉冲X射线衍射测量模型的基础上,分析了撞击倾斜及晶体宏观位移对衍射测量结果的影响。确定了影响晶格形变量测量的晶体样品宏观位移及衍射峰读出等因素的不确定度来源,建立了各种因素综合影响下的不确定度分析方法。给出了轻气炮驱动的平面冲击加载实验中LiF(100)晶体的脉冲X射线衍射测量结果,实验获得了晶体处于3.65 GPa和2.33 GPa两个不同冲击压缩状态下的动态衍射峰。经计算得到的晶格形变量与材料宏观雨贡纽关系吻合,并从晶格层面上证实了LiF晶体在冲击塑性形变时晶格处于各向同性的压缩状态。     

细胞样品的高分辨率软X射线接触显微术图像的研究

在建立适于软Ｘ射线接触显微术（ＳＸＣＭ）观察细胞样品制备方法的基础上，以培养的肿瘤细胞为生物样品，应用细聚焦软Ｘ射线光源进行ＳＸＣＭ研究，获得了分辨率优于２８ｎｍ的高质量肿瘤细胞ＳＸＣＭ图像。