Angular X-ray transmission measurements of gold absorption gratings: comparison of different laboratory X-ray sources

Over the past few years, numerous advances have been made in X-ray imaging technology. X-ray imaging plays an important role in the non-destructive exploration of the internal structures of objects for research, medical and industrial applications. When X-rays are used in computed tomography (CT), the differences in density of various components of a specimen result in different degrees of absorption of the X-rays and are ultimately responsible for image formation and image contrast. However, in some situations, this contrast is not sufficient for the sample, e.g. in the case of fossils embedded in rock, there are often situations where the fossil and rock have similar grey values. Poor contrast causes the loss of valuable detail and makes further image processing steps such as segmentation challenging. There is a continuous need to improve and develop new image acquisition techniques with the goal to improve the quality of the obtained CT data. Computed tomography techniques have been extended to phase contrast imaging in recent years using the principle of Talbot-Lau interferometers. Initially performed in synchrotron facilities the method was extended to work with incoherent polychromatic X-ray sources by introducing a source grating into the setup and therefore reducing the requirements on the spatial coherence of the source significantly. In this work, we report on the experimental characterization of gold absorption gratings used in such a laboratory-based cone-beam phase contrast setup. The gold gratings are characterized by Angular X-ray Transmission using different laboratory X-ray sources, providing insights not only into the grating feature sizes but also validating the suitability of the available laboratory source for phase contrast imaging. This work is the first step in a project implementing phase contrast X-ray imaging in laboratory setups in South Africa. © 2022-by the Authors.