Laboratory-based x-ray microtomography with directional dark-field sensitivity

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Navarrete-Leon, Carlos, Gonzalez-Grajales, Alvaro Jose, Allan, Harry, Doherty, Adam, Parmenter, Alissa, D'Antuono, Rocco, Bate, David, Astolfo, Alberto, Cipiccia, Silvia, Hagen, Charlotte K., Olivo, Alessandro, Endrizzi, Marco
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Navarrete-Leon, Carlos
Gonzalez-Grajales, Alvaro Jose
Allan, Harry
Doherty, Adam
Parmenter, Alissa
D'Antuono, Rocco
Bate, David
Astolfo, Alberto
Cipiccia, Silvia
Hagen, Charlotte K.
Olivo, Alessandro
Endrizzi, Marco
author_facet Navarrete-Leon, Carlos
Gonzalez-Grajales, Alvaro Jose
Allan, Harry
Doherty, Adam
Parmenter, Alissa
D'Antuono, Rocco
Bate, David
Astolfo, Alberto
Cipiccia, Silvia
Hagen, Charlotte K.
Olivo, Alessandro
Endrizzi, Marco
contents We demonstrate dark-field x-ray microtomography in a compact, laboratory-based system capable of resolving attenuation, phase, and anisotropic scattering signals with micrometer-scale resolution across centimetre-scale samples. The method is based on two-directional beam tracking (2DBT), which requires only a single optical element and is compatible with standard x-ray sources and detectors. We validate the system's capabilities through imaging of a custom-built phantom, a fibre-reinforced composite and ex-vivo biological tissues, including a bovine intervertebral disc, a rat heart, and a porcine meniscus. The results show that dark-field tomography provides complementary information to attenuation as well as to phase tomography, by revealing sub-resolution features such as fibre orientation and microstructural heterogeneity at length scales that are well below the voxel size. A key element of our system is its sensitivity to scattering along two orthogonal directions in the image plane, enabling the measurement of scattering anisotropy with a single exposure. As well as simple and robust, our approach is sensitive and precise. These findings demonstrate the potential of 2DBT for non-destructive and three-dimensional structural characterisation of samples and materials in engineering, materials science and biomedical applications.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2511_04420
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Laboratory-based x-ray microtomography with directional dark-field sensitivity
Navarrete-Leon, Carlos
Gonzalez-Grajales, Alvaro Jose
Allan, Harry
Doherty, Adam
Parmenter, Alissa
D'Antuono, Rocco
Bate, David
Astolfo, Alberto
Cipiccia, Silvia
Hagen, Charlotte K.
Olivo, Alessandro
Endrizzi, Marco
Optics
We demonstrate dark-field x-ray microtomography in a compact, laboratory-based system capable of resolving attenuation, phase, and anisotropic scattering signals with micrometer-scale resolution across centimetre-scale samples. The method is based on two-directional beam tracking (2DBT), which requires only a single optical element and is compatible with standard x-ray sources and detectors. We validate the system's capabilities through imaging of a custom-built phantom, a fibre-reinforced composite and ex-vivo biological tissues, including a bovine intervertebral disc, a rat heart, and a porcine meniscus. The results show that dark-field tomography provides complementary information to attenuation as well as to phase tomography, by revealing sub-resolution features such as fibre orientation and microstructural heterogeneity at length scales that are well below the voxel size. A key element of our system is its sensitivity to scattering along two orthogonal directions in the image plane, enabling the measurement of scattering anisotropy with a single exposure. As well as simple and robust, our approach is sensitive and precise. These findings demonstrate the potential of 2DBT for non-destructive and three-dimensional structural characterisation of samples and materials in engineering, materials science and biomedical applications.
title Laboratory-based x-ray microtomography with directional dark-field sensitivity
topic Optics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.04420