Patent Number: 
Section: claims

1. An x-ray microscope system comprising:an x-ray illumination beam generating system comprising:an x-ray source; anda beam-splitting grating, wherein said x-ray illumination beam generating system produces a plurality of x-ray micro-beams through the Talbot effect, the plurality of x-ray micro-beams having a depth-of-focus, an axis of propagation and a predetermined intensity profile normal to said axis for a predetermined x-ray energy;a mount configured to support an object to be examined within the depth-of-focus, the mount configured to move the object relative to said plurality of x-ray micro-beams; andat least one x-ray pixel array detector for detecting x-rays resulting from interaction of said plurality of x-ray micro-beams with said object, said detector comprising a plurality of pixels within said depth-of-focus. 2. The x-ray microscope system of claim 1, wherein the beam-splitting grating is a π phase-shifting grating or a π/2 phase-shifting grating at said predetermined x-ray energy. 3. The x-ray microscope system of claim 1, wherein the x-ray source comprises:an emitter for an electron beam; anda transmission x-ray target comprising a plurality of discrete microstructures comprising a first material having a first mass density and a substrate comprising a second material having a second mass density lower than the first mass density. 4. The x-ray microscope system of claim 3, wherein the energy of the electron beam is greater than 1.1 times of the predetermined x-ray energy. 5. The x-ray microscope system of claim 3, wherein the electron beam is incident upon the target at an oblique angle. 6. The x-ray microscope system of claim 1, wherein the x-ray source is a microfocus x-ray source or an extended x-ray source used in combination with an absorption grating. 7. The x-ray microscope system of claim 1, further comprising at least one filter so that the full width half maximum of the bandwidth of the plurality of x-ray micro-beams is 30% centered at the predetermined x-ray energy. 8. The x-ray microscope system of claim 1, wherein the mount is configured to translate the object in two orthogonal directions. 9. The x-ray microscope system of claim 8, wherein the mount is further configured to rotate the object about a direction perpendicular to the axis of propagation. 10. The x-ray microscope system of claim 1, wherein the detector is a CCD-based detector and is aligned such that centers of the pixels are aligned to centers of the x-ray micro-beams. 11. The x-ray microscope system of claim 1, further comprising an analysis system configured to display and analyze output signals from the detector. 12. The x-ray microscope system of claim 1, further comprising a mask positioned to block a predetermined number of the x-ray micro-beams. 13. The x-ray microscope system of claim 1, further comprising a mask positioned upstream of the detector to block a predetermined number of the x-ray micro-beams transmitted through the object. 14. The x-ray microscope system of claim 1, in which the system achieves submicron spatial resolution. 15. The x-ray microscope system of claim 1, wherein each pixel comprises an actively detecting area at a center of the pixel, the actively detecting area comprising less than 50% of a total area of the pixel. 16. The x-ray microscope system of claim 1, further comprising an attenuating grating placed upstream of the detector and positioned to absorb x-rays between the x-ray micro-beams to increase the intensity ratio between x-ray micro-beams and the regions between the x-ray micro-beams. 17. A method for measuring the x-ray transmission of an object, the method comprising:producing an x-ray Talbot interference pattern comprising a plurality of anti-nodes and having a depth-of-focus;positioning an x-ray array detector comprising a plurality of pixels such that the plurality of pixels are within the depth-of-focus of the x-ray Talbot interference pattern; andpositioning an object to be examined within the depth-of-focus such that x-rays of at least some of the anti-nodes transmitted through the object to be examined are detected by the detector. 18. The method of claim 17, further comprising blocking at least some of the x-rays transmitted through the object from being detected by the detector. 19. The method of claim 17, further comprising blocking at least some x-rays of the x-ray Talbot interference pattern from reaching the object. 20. The method of claim 19, wherein said blocking comprises positioning a mask in front of the object. 21. The method of claim 20, wherein the mask is positioned within the depth-of-focus.