Photon counting X-ray imagers have found their way into the mainstream scientific community in recent years, and have become important components in many scientific setups. These camera systems are ...in active development, with output data rates increasing significantly with every new generation of devices. A different class of PCD (Photon Counting Detector) devices has become generally available, where camera data output is no longer a matrix of photon counts but instead direct measurements of the deposited charge per pixel in every frame, which requires significant off-camera processing. This type of PCD, called a hyperspectral X-ray camera due to its fully spectroscopic output, yet again increases the demands put on the acquisition and processing backend. Not only are bandwidth requirements increased, but the need to do extensive data processing is also introduced with these hyperspectral PCD devices. To cope with these new developments the Spectral X-ray Imaging Data Acquisition framework (SpeXIDAQ) has been developed. All aspects of the imaging pipeline are handled by the SpeXIDAQ framework: from detector control and frame grabbing, to processing, storage and live visualisation during experiments.
Recent advances in high resolution X-ray tomography (μCT) technology have enabled in-situ dynamic μCT imaging (4D-μCT) of time-dependent processes inside 3D structures, non-destructively and ...non-invasively. This paper illustrates the application of 4D-μCT for visualizing the removal of fatty liquids from kitchen sponges made of polyurethane after rinsing (absorption), squeezing (desorption) and cleaning (adding detergents). For the first time, time-dependent imaging of this type of system was established with sufficiently large contrast gradient between water (with/without detergent) and olive oil (model fat) by the application of suitable fat-sensitive X-ray contrast agents. Thus, contrasted olive oil filled sponges were rinsed and squeezed in a unique laboratory loading device with a fluid flow channel designed to fit inside a rotating gantry-based X-ray μCT system. Results suggest the use of brominated vegetable oil as a preferred contrast agent over magnetite powder for enhancing the attenuation coefficient of olive oil in a multi fluid filled kitchen sponge. The contrast agent (brominated vegetable oil) and olive oil were mixed and subsequently added on to the sponge. There was no disintegration seen in the mixture of contrast agent and olive oil during the cleaning process by detergents. The application of contrast agents also helped in accurately tracking the movement and volume changes of soils in compressed open cell structures. With the in house-built cleaning device, it was quantified that almost 99% of cleaning was possible for contrasted olive oil (brominated vegetable oil with olive oil) dispersed in the sponge. This novel approach allowed for realistic mimicking of the cleaning process and provided closer evaluation of the effectiveness of cleaning by detergents to minimize bacterial growth.
X-Ray Ptychography with a Laboratory Source Batey, Darren J.; Van Assche, Frederic; Vanheule, Sander ...
Physical review letters,
05/2021, Volume:
126, Issue:
19
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
X-ray ptychography has revolutionized nanoscale phase contrast imaging at large-scale synchrotron sources in recent years. We present here the first successful demonstration of the technique in a ...small-scale laboratory setting. An experiment was conducted with a liquid metal-jet x-ray source and a single photon-counting detector with a high spectral resolution. The experiment used a spot size of 5 μm to produce a ptychographic phase image of a Siemens star test pattern with a submicron spatial resolution. The result and methodology presented show how high-resolution phase contrast imaging can now be performed at small-scale laboratory sources worldwide.
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We present a new method of single acquisition spectroscopic imaging with high spatial resolution. The technique is based on the combination of polychromatic synchrotron radiation and ptychographic ...imaging with a recently developed energy discriminating detector. We demonstrate the feasibility with a Ni-Cu test sample recorded at I13-1 of the Diamond Light Source, UK. The two elements can be clearly distinguished and the Ni absorption edge is identified. The results prove the feasibility of obtaining high-resolution structural and chemical images within a single acquisition using a polychromatic X-ray beam. The capability of resolving the absorption edge applies to a wide range of research areas, such as magnetic domains imaging and element specific investigations in biological, materials, and earth sciences. The method utilises the full available radiation spectrum and is therefore well suited for broadband radiation sources.
Multilayer monochromator devices are commonly used at (imaging) beamlines of synchrotron facilities to shape the X‐ray beam to relatively small bandwidth and high intensity. However, stripe artefacts ...are often observed and can deteriorate the image quality. Although the intensity distribution of these artefacts has been described in the literature, their spectral distribution is currently unknown. To assess the spatio‐spectral properties of the monochromated X‐ray beam, the direct beam has been measured for the first time using a hyperspectral X‐ray detector. The results show a large number of spectral features with different spatial distributions for a Ru, B4C strip monochromator, associated primarily with the higher‐order harmonics of the undulator and monochromator. It is found that their relative contributions are sufficiently low to avoid an influence on the imaging data. The V, B4C strip suppresses these high‐order harmonics even more than the former, yet at the cost of reduced efficiency.
Full‐field spectroscopic measurements of the X‐ray beam from a multilayer monochromator are presented. With these measurements, the striping artefacts often found when using these devices can be fully characterized.
To bridge the gap between lab-based high-resolution X-ray tomography (micro-CT) and synchrotron-based micro-CT, lab-scale accelerator-based or Inverse Compton Scattering (ICS) X-ray sources are a ...promising technology. In the scope of a large-scale project funded by the European Regional Development Fund (Interreg Grensregio), a new ICS source dubbed Smart*Light is being developed at TU Eindhoven. In this work, we present the advantages of this source compared to existing systems and its potential in industrial X-ray CT.
X-ray ptychography has revolutionised nanoscale phase contrast imaging at large-scale synchrotron sources in recent years. We present here the first successful demonstration of the technique in a ...small-scale laboratory setting. We conducted an experiment with a liquid metal-jet X-ray source and a single photon-counting detector with a high spectral resolution. The experiment used a spot size of 5 microns to produce a ptychographic phase image of a Siemens star test pattern with a sub-micron spatial resolution. The result and methodology presented show how high-resolution phase contrast imaging can now be performed at small-scale laboratory sources worldwide.
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