High-throughput inclined scanning three-dimensional X-ray diffraction microscopy via dual line-beam X-point scanning

Recently developed inclined scanning three-dimensional X-ray diffraction (i-S3DXRD) microscopy enables the non-destructive mapping of crystal orientations in planar-shaped specimens. However, its inherently slow raster-scanning procedure limits its practical applicability. In this work, we achieve a 21-fold reduction in the number of scans, from 51 × 37 to 51 + 37, by introducing a dual line-beam X-point (DLX) scanning mode in i-S3DXRD. Here, 51 and 37 correspond to the numbers of scan steps along the z and x directions under horizontally and vertically elongated X-ray beam illumination, respectively. The DLX approach selectively enhances diffraction peaks corresponding to the intersection point (X-point) through pixel-wise multiplication of two diffraction images acquired under horizontally and vertically elongated incident beams. Using the reorganized data, we performed multigrain indexing and found that the resulting orientation map agrees with that obtained from conventional point-beam raster scanning, demonstrating the validity and time efficiency of the DLX scanning mode.