Grating-based X-ray phase imaging using multiline X-ray source

Differential phase-contrast X-ray imaging has been performed in a Talbot-Lau configuration, where a multiline X-ray source was used instead of a combination of a hard-X-ray multiple slit and a normal focus X-ray generator. When the multiple slit is used, a high aspect ratio structure is needed and slit width should be below 10 mm for its function. The fabrication and use of such a multislit can be omitted using the presented configuration. The multiline X-ray source was developed by making grooves on a tungsten rotating anode, which was irradiated by an electron beam to generate X-rays. An array of 10μm line sources with a pitch of 30mm was formed and combined with a 4.5μm pitch phase grating and a 5.3μm pitch amplitude grating to generate differential phase contrast. With a total exposure time of 40s, a differential phase image depicting cartilages was obtained.