Esposito Michela, Buchanan Ian, Massimi Lorenzo, Ferrara Joseph D, Shearing Paul R, Olivo Alessandro, Endrizzi Marco
Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, University College London, Malet Place, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom.
Rigaku Americas Corporation, 9009 New Trails Drive, The Woodlands, Texas 77381, US.
Phys Rev Appl. 2023 Dec;20(6). doi: 10.1103/physrevapplied.20.064039. Epub 2023 Dec 21.
We demonstrate the capability of laboratory-based x-ray microscopes, using intensity-modulation masks, to access the sub-micron length scale in the dark field contrast channel while maintaining micron resolution in the resolved (refraction and attenuation) channels. The dark field contrast channel reveals the presence of ensembles of samples' features below the system resolution. Resolved refraction and attenuation channels provide multi-modal high-resolution imaging down to the micron scale. We investigate the regimes of modulated and un-modulated dark field as well as refraction, quantifying their dependence on the relationship between feature size in the imaged object and aperture size in the intensity-modulation mask. We propose an analytical model to link the measured signal with the sample's microscopic properties. Finally, we demonstrate the relevance of the microscopic dark field contrast channel in applications from both the life and physical sciences, providing proof of concept results for imaging collagen bundles in cartilage and dendritic growth in lithium batteries.
我们展示了基于实验室的X射线显微镜利用强度调制掩模在暗场对比度通道中获取亚微米长度尺度信息，同时在分辨（折射和衰减）通道中保持微米分辨率的能力。暗场对比度通道揭示了低于系统分辨率的样本特征集合的存在。分辨的折射和衰减通道提供了直至微米尺度的多模态高分辨率成像。我们研究了调制和未调制暗场以及折射的情况，量化了它们对成像对象中特征尺寸与强度调制掩模中孔径尺寸之间关系的依赖性。我们提出了一个分析模型，将测量信号与样本的微观特性联系起来。最后，我们展示了微观暗场对比度通道在生命科学和物理科学应用中的相关性，为软骨中胶原束成像和锂电池中枝晶生长成像提供了概念验证结果。
