高对称度光源的同步辐射X射线同轴相衬成像

Synchrotron radiation X-ray in-line phase-contrast imaging with highly symmetric source

全球现有的同步辐射光源中,电子束团在垂直于运动方向的截面上其水平尺寸和垂直尺寸的差异都较大,即同步辐射X射线(SRX)源的尺寸在水平和垂直两方向上有较大差异(二者的比值为光源的对称度,与1的差别越大,则对称度越差).这使得利用同步辐射X射线开展同轴相衬成像实验时,水平和垂直两个方向上入射X射线的点扩展函数相差较大,造成两个方向上空间分辨率有很大差别,这种差异还会造成两个方向上相位衬度水平的明显差别,从而严重影响同轴相位衬度成像的质量.本文通过在北京同步辐射装置(BSRF)成像线站(4W1A)束线上加入白光光阑直接限制光源对样品的点扩展函数的方法,获得了一个对称度大大提高的同步辐射X射线源(光源对称度从2.7提高到接近1),并开展了模型样品(聚酰胺细丝)的同轴相位衬度成像实验.使4W1A的光源对称度从2.7提高到1,虽然会使总通量约减小为原来的0.0005,但通量密度只减小到原来的0.22.总通量的减小由光斑尺寸的减小和通量密度的减小共同决定,由于高分辨率同轴成像需要的光斑尺寸很小,因此本方法对高分辨率同轴成像的不利影响仅限于通量密度的减小.同时,研究结果表明,通过关小水平光阑尺寸,把对成像有贡献的水平方向光源尺寸从1.23 mm减小到约0.35 mm,使模型样品成像的最大相位衬度从0.057提高到了0.35,即通过关小光阑提高光源的对称度,使同轴相衬成像的密度灵敏度提高了5倍.光源对称度的提高,使空间分辨率和相位衬度这两方面在水平方向和垂直方向达到相同的水平,从而极大改善了BSRF 4W1A线站SRX同轴相位衬度成像的质量.我们分析了成像质量提升的原因,并讨论了未来进一步改进的方向.

In available synchrotron radiation facilities all over the world, the size of electron beam bunch has distinct difference between the horizontal direction and the vertical direction at the cross section vertical to electron moving direction. It will cause low symmetry of source size in horizontal and vertical directions, and result in big difference in the spacial resolution and phase contrast between these two directions in synchrotron radiation X-ray in-line phase contrast imaging. The superior resolution and phase contrast of one direction will couple with the inferior ones of the other direction in actual object imaging, this interaction will degrade both spacial resolution and phase contrast of the whole image and lead to poor image quality. In this paper, a four-knife white beam slit is used in Beijing synchrotron radiation facility （BSRF） 4WlA beamline to adjust source size in horizontal and vertical directions and restrict the point spread function （PSF） of source, the source size is limited from 1.23 mm （horizontal）x0.46 mm （vertical） to 0.35 mmx0.35 mm. By this way, a highly symmetric effective X-ray source is obtained. The symmetry of source size is improved from 2.7 to about 1. Although the total X-ray flux loses 99.95%, the X-ray flux density is only reduced to 22%. It because total flux is taken account of the expanded spot size due to divergence, while flux density is mainly related to effective source size, which is limited not severely as expanded spot size by white beam slit. The flux density reduction by this method is not a critical defect in high resolution X-ray phase contrast imaging and can be improved by other ways. The polyamide fiber net is imaged using X-ray in-line phase contrast imaging at 4WlA, BSRF. Diameter of fiber is about 50 microns, X-ray energy is 13 keV, the effective pixel size is 0.325 micron, the experiment images are obtained at object-to-detector distances of 4, 10, 16, 36, 100, 200 and 300 mm with source-to-object distance of about 43 m. The results show that when source size in horizontal direction is limited from 1.23 to 0.35 mm （symmetry of source size is about 1 at this condition）, the maximal phase contrast of image is advanced from 0.057 to 0.35. It means the density sensitivity is promoted about 5 times than in ordinary source size conditions. The spacial resolutions in different source size symmetry conditions are also primary analyzed based on Rayleigh criterion. The result shows that spacial resolution can be improved notably in horizontal direction by limiting horizontal source size to a nearly symmetric source size condition. Our work demonstrates that the spacial resolution and phase contrast can be promoted at the same level by source size symmetry improved, which markedly improved the imaging quality in synchrotron radiation X-ray in-line phase-contrast imaging. It will have great benefit to high-resolution X-ray in-line phase contrast imaging. The reasons of these improvements are analyzed and developments in future are also discussed.