Lens gratings for dose optimization of medical X-ray phase contrast imaging

A novel way to build arrays of X-ray lenslets is proposed for use in medical imaging, in particular for X-ray phase contrast imaging. Focusing on Talbot-Lau interferometers, this work is about patient dose reduction, especially for design energies above 50 keV. A low dose poses a fabrication problem, because it requires an analyzer grating which is both fine and high: It has to be fine for a good angular sensitivity. It has to be high to absorb well. However, gratings can currently be built either fine or high. The proposed solution is to use a fine novel lens grating in front of a high analyzer grating: The lens grating uses lenslets to combine fine fringes into wider strips. This coarser pattern is then analyzed by a high grating. Regular binary production processes are sufficient to build lens gratings. Simulation-based results show that lens gratings can save dose with no impact on reconstructed images.