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

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. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3497717]