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Updated: Jul 30, 2025

High Spatial Resolution Chemical Imaging of Implant-Associated Infections with X-ray Excited Luminescence Chemical Imaging Through Tissue
Published on: September 30, 2022
Imaging via Correlation of X-Ray Fluorescence Photons
Fabian Trost1, Kartik Ayyer2,3, Mauro Prasciolu1
1Center for Free-Electron Laser Science CFEL, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Notkestr. 85, 22607, Hamburg, Germany.
Abstract:
We demonstrate that x-ray fluorescence emission, which cannot maintain a stationary interference pattern, can be used to obtain images of structures by recording photon-photon correlations in the manner of the stellar intensity interferometry of Hanbury Brown and Twiss. This is achieved utilizing femtosecond-duration pulses of a hard x-ray free-electron laser to generate the emission in exposures comparable to the coherence time of the fluorescence. Iterative phasing of the photon correlation map generated a model-free real-space image of the structure of the emitters. Since fluorescence can dominate coherent scattering, this may enable imaging uncrystallised macromolecules.
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