X-ray refraction-contrast computed tomography images using dark-field imaging optics

Abstract

If an x-ray beam containing internal information derived from sample soft tissue is incident upon a Laue-case analyzer, the beam will subsequently split into a forwardly diffracted beam and a separate diffracted beam. Using these beams acquired simultaneously, a refraction-contrast computed tomography (CT) imaging system for biomedical use with lower radiation dose can be easily realized, and has a high depicting capability on the soft tissues compared with conventional x-ray CT based on absorption contrast principles. In this paper, we propose an imaging system using dark-field imaging for CT measurement based on a tandem system of Bragg- and Laue-case crystals with two two-dimensional detectors, along with a data-processing method to extract information on refraction from the measured entangled intensities by use of rocking curve fitting with polynomial functions. Reconstructed images of soft tissues are presented and described.