In-line phase-contrast imaging with a laser-based hard x-ray source

We demonstrate the feasibility of phase-contrast imaging with an ultrafast laser-based hard x-ray source. Hard x rays are generated during the interaction of a high-intensity femtosecond laser pulse (10TW,60fs,10Hz) focused onto solid target in a very small spot (3μm diam). Such a novel x-ray source has a number of advantages over other sources previously used for phase-contrast imaging: It is very compact and much cheaper than a synchrotron, it has higher power and better x-ray spectrum control than a microfocal x-ray tube, and it has much higher repetition rate than an x-pinch source. The Kα line at 17keV produced using a solid Mo target, and the in-line imaging geometry have been utilized in this study. Phase-contrast images of test objects and biological samples have been realized. The characteristics of the images are the significant enhancement of interfaces due to an x-ray phase shift that reveal details that were hardly observable, or even undetectable, in absorption images and suppression of opti...

[1]  Gerard Mourou,et al.  Dependence of hard x-ray yield on laser pulse parameters in the wavelength-cubed regime , 2004 .

[2]  S. C. Prasad,et al.  Laser-based microfocused x-ray source for mammography: feasibility study. , 1997, Medical physics.

[3]  A. Krol,et al.  Future of laser-based X-ray sources for medical imaging , 2002 .

[4]  Gerard Mourou,et al.  High resolution hard x-ray spectroscopy of femtosecond laser-produced plasmas with a CZT detector , 2003 .

[5]  Alexis Kudryashov,et al.  Low-cost adaptive optical devices for multipurpose applications , 1999, Other Conferences.

[6]  A. Krol,et al.  High magnification imaging with a laser-based hard X-ray source , 1999 .

[7]  Jean-Claude Kieffer,et al.  Ultrafast laser-based micro-CT system for small-animal imaging , 2004, SPIE Medical Imaging.

[8]  P. Cloetens,et al.  Phase objects in synchrotron radiation hard x-ray imaging , 1996 .

[9]  A. Snigirev,et al.  On the possibilities of x-ray phase contrast microimaging by coherent high-energy synchrotron radiation , 1995 .

[10]  David A. Hammer,et al.  Phase-contrast x-ray radiography using the X pinch radiation , 2001, SPIE Optics + Photonics.

[11]  Fabien Dorchies,et al.  Image quality analysis for dual energy subtraction imaging with a femtosecond laser-based hard X-ray source , 2001 .

[12]  Anatoly Snigirev,et al.  Phase-contrast X-ray imaging with synchrotron radiation for materials science applications , 2003 .

[13]  S. Wilkins,et al.  Phase-contrast imaging using polychromatic hard X-rays , 1996, Nature.

[14]  Sune Svanberg,et al.  Elemental biological imaging by differential absorption with a laser-produced x-ray source , 1996 .

[15]  Jean-Claude Kieffer,et al.  Hard x-ray emission in high intensity femtosecond laser–target interaction , 1999 .

[16]  Hong Liu,et al.  Clinical implementation of x-ray phase-contrast imaging: theoretical foundations and design considerations. , 2003, Medical physics.

[17]  G. Margaritondo,et al.  Coherence-enhanced synchrotron radiology: simple theory and practical applications , 2002 .

[18]  S. Wilkins,et al.  Contrast and resolution in imaging with a microfocus x-ray source , 1997 .

[19]  David R Pickens,et al.  Quantification of the effect of system and object parameters on edge enhancement in phase-contrast radiography. , 2003, Medical physics.

[20]  K. Nugent,et al.  Quantitative Phase Imaging Using Hard X Rays. , 1996, Physical review letters.

[21]  Hong Liu,et al.  An experimental method of determining relative phase-contrast factor for x-ray imaging systems. , 2004, Medical physics.

[22]  S. Wilkins,et al.  Quantitative in-line phase-contrast imaging with multienergy X rays. , 2001, Physical review letters.

[23]  G. Tromba,et al.  COHERENCE-BASED EDGE DIFFRACTION SHARPENING OF X-RAY IMAGES : A SIMPLE MODEL , 1999 .

[24]  E Castelli,et al.  Mammography with synchrotron radiation: phase-detection techniques. , 2000, Radiology.

[25]  Hong-Ming Lin,et al.  Coherence-enhanced synchrotron radiology : refraction versus diffraction mechanisms. , 1999 .

[26]  L T Hudson,et al.  A curved crystal spectrometer for energy calibration and spectral characterization of mammographic x-ray sources. , 1996, Medical physics.

[27]  Ronald R Price,et al.  Quantification of the effect of kvp on edge-enhancement index in phase-contrast radiography. , 2002, Medical physics.