Grating-Based X-ray Phase Imaging Using Multiline X-ray Source

Differential phase-contrast X-ray imaging has been performed in a Talbot–Lau configuration, where a multiline X-ray source was used instead of a combination of a hard-X-ray multiple slit and a normal focus X-ray generator. When the multiple slit is used, a high aspect ratio structure is needed and slit width should be below 10 µm for its function. The fabrication and use of such a multislit can be omitted using the presented configuration. The multiline X-ray source was developed by making grooves on a tungsten rotating anode, which was irradiated by an electron beam to generate X-rays. An array of 10 µm line sources with a pitch of 30 µm was formed and combined with a 4.5 µm pitch phase grating and a 5.3 µm pitch amplitude grating to generate differential phase contrast. With a total exposure time of 40 s, a differential phase image depicting cartilages was obtained.