Grating based laboratory 5.41 keV X-ray phase contrast microscopy with zone-plate: Design, instrumentation and...

Area of Science:

• * X-ray optics and imaging
• * Phase-contrast microscopy
• * Nanotechnology

Background:

• * Grating interferometers enhance X-ray imaging contrast for low-density materials.
• * Conventional X-ray imaging struggles with weakly absorbing objects.

Purpose of the Study:

• * Design, instrument, and validate a laboratory 5.41 keV X-ray phase-contrast microscope.
• * Integrate zone-plate imaging with grating interferometry.
• * Achieve high-resolution imaging of biological and material samples.

Main Methods:

• * Coupled zone-plate and grating interferometer imaging techniques.
• * Utilized custom X-ray optics, a specialized X-ray tube source, and motion stages.
• * Characterized spatial resolution using Modulation Transfer Function (MTF) and Power Spectral Density (PSD) analysis.
• * Extracted absorption and phase-contrast images, validated with numerical simulations.

Main Results:

• * Achieved 35.0 nm spatial resolution (MTF) and 28.5 nm minimum detectable structure size (PSD).
• * Demonstrated phase-contrast splitting phenomenon ($8.54\mu m$) for polystyrene microspheres.
• * Clearly identified mitochondria in reconstructed phase-contrast CT images of Jurkat T cells.

Conclusions:

• * Developed a grating-based laboratory X-ray phase-contrast microscope with zone-plate.
• * Demonstrated significantly enhanced imaging performance for low-density objects.
• * Showcased potential for advanced biological and material science applications.