Patent Number: 
Section: claims

1. An X-ray Talbot interferometer comprising:a source grating having a plurality of X-ray transmitting portions to transmit some X-rays from an X-ray source;a beam splitter grating configured to diffract the X-rays from the X-ray transmitting portions with a periodic structure to form interference patterns;an analyzer grating configured to block parts of the interference patterns; anda detector configured to detect X-rays from the analyzer grating,wherein the beam splitter grating forms the interference patterns corresponding to the respective X-ray transmitting portions by diffracting X-rays from each of the X-ray transmitting portions with the periodic structure;the X-ray transmitting portions are arranged to form a periodic pattern in which specific spatial frequency components are enhanced by superimposing the interference patterns corresponding to the respective X-ray transmitting portions;the specific spatial frequency components are spatial frequency components contained in a sideband produced when spatial frequency components specific to the interference patterns are modulated by an object; andwhen no object is placed between the source grating and the analyzer grating, the periodic pattern is is substantially the same as a grating pattern of the analyzer grating in a positional relationship over an entire imaging field. 2. The X-ray Talbot interferometer according to claim 1, wherein a pitch of the interference patterns is the same as a pitch of the analyzer grating, and a periodic direction of the interference patterns is the same as a periodic direction of the analyzer grating. 3. The X-ray Talbot interferometer according to claim 1, wherein the imaging field corresponds to an entire detection surface of the detector. 4. The X-ray Talbot interferometer according to claim 1,wherein a pitch of the periodic pattern is the same as a pitch of the analyzer grating;the source grating, the beam splitter grating, and the analyzer grating are arranged such that when no object is placed between the source grating and the detector, a smaller one of two distances in a periodic direction of the periodic pattern, one distance being a distance between a center of each bright portion of the periodic pattern and a center of the corresponding X-ray shielding portion of the analyzer grating and the other distance being a distance between a center of each bright portion of the periodic pattern and a center of the corresponding X-ray transmitting portion of the analyzer grating, is less than or equal to ¼ times the pitch of the periodic pattern. 5. The X-ray Talbot interferometer according to claim 4,whereinthe source grating, the beam splitter grating, and the analyzer grating are arranged such that the smaller one of two distances is less than or equal to ⅛ times the pitch of the periodic pattern. 6. The X-ray Talbot interferometer according to claim 4, wherein the source grating, the beam splitter grating, and the analyzer grating are arranged such that the smaller one of the two distances is less than or equal to 1/10 times the pitch of the periodic pattern. 7. The X-ray Talbot interferometer according to claim 5, wherein m is 1 or 2. 8. The X-ray Talbot interferometer according to claim 1, wherein the source grating, the beam splitter grating, and the analyzer grating are each a grating having a grating pattern containing a plurality of periodic components in different directions. 9. The X-ray Talbot interferometer according to claim 1, further comprising:a moving unit configured to move a position of at least one of the source grating, the beam splitter grating, and the analyzer grating; andan imaging mode instruction unit configured to give an instruction indicating an imaging mode to be executed,wherein the imaging mode instruction unit is capable of indicating a first imaging mode and a second imaging mode;the first imaging mode is an imaging mode in which imaging is performed when the positional relation between the periodic pattern and the grating pattern of the analyzer grating, in the absence of any object between the source grating and the analyzer grating, is substantially the same over the entire imaging field; andthe second imaging mode is an imaging mode in which a phase stepping technique is performed. 10. The X-ray Talbot interferometer according to claim 1, further comprising a moving unit configured to move a position of at least one of the source grating, the beam splitter grating, and the analyzer grating,wherein the detector has a plurality of detection pixels configured to detect X-rays;an imaging mode can be changed from a first imaging mode to a second imaging mode or from the second imaging mode to the first imaging mode when the moving unit changes a positional relation between the interference patterns and the analyzer grating;the first imaging mode is an imaging mode in which imaging is performed when the positional relation between the periodic pattern and the grating pattern of the analyzer grating, in the absence of any object between the source grating and the analyzer grating, is substantially the same over the entire imaging field; andthe second imaging mode is an imaging mode in which imaging is performed in a state where the source grating, the beam splitter grating, and the analyzer grating are arranged such that, in the absence of any object between the source grating and the analyzer grating, an intensity distribution having a period that is 2 to 20 times a pixel pitch of the detection pixels is formed in the imaging field. 11. The X-ray Talbot interferometer according to claim 1, further comprising the X-ray source. 12. The X-ray Talbot interferometer according to claim 1, further comprising an image display unit configured to display an X-ray intensity distribution acquired by the detector. 13. An X-ray Talbot interferometer comprising:a source grating having a plurality of X-ray transmitting portions to transmit some X-rays from an X-ray source;a beam splitter grating configured to diffract the X-rays from the X-ray transmitting portions with a periodic structure to form interference patterns;an analyzer grating configured to block parts of the interference patterns; anda detector configured to detect X-rays from the analyzer grating,wherein the beam splitter grating forms the interference patterns corresponding to the respective X-ray transmitting portions by diffracting X-rays from each of the X-ray transmitting portions with the periodic structure;the X-ray transmitting portions are arranged to form a periodic pattern in which specific spatial frequency components are enhanced by superimposing the interference patterns corresponding to the respective X-ray transmitting portions;a pitch of the interference patterns is the same as a pitch of the analyzer grating, and a periodic direction of the interference patterns is the same as a periodic direction of the analyzer grating; anda pitch d0 of the X-ray transmitting portions of the source grating is expressed by the following equation:      d    0    =                              n          1                ⁢                  d          1                    m        ⁢                            L          01                +                  L          12                            L        12              ⁢          (              1        +                  α          1                    )      where d1 is a grating pitch of the beam splitter grating, n1 and m are positive integers, L01 is a distance between the source grating and the beam splitter grating, L12 is a distance between the beam splitter grating and the analyzer grating, and α1 is a constant that is in the following range:      0.1    ⁢                  d        1                    mw        S              ⁢                            L          01                +                  L          12                            L        12              <                α      1            <      1.1    ⁢                  d        1                    mw        S              ⁢                            L          01                +                  L          12                            L        12            where wS is a full width at half maximum of an emission intensity distribution of X-ray emitting spot in the X-ray source. 14. The X-ray Talbot interferometer according to claim 13,wherein a pitch of the periodic pattern is the same as the pitch of the analyzer grating;the source grating, the beam splitter grating, and the analyzer grating are arranged such that when no object is placed between the source grating and the detector, a smaller one of two distances in a periodic direction of the periodic pattern, one distance being a distance between a center of each bright portion of the periodic pattern and a center of the corresponding X-ray shielding portion of the analyzer grating and the other distance being a distance between a center of each bright portion of the periodic pattern and a center of the corresponding X-ray transmitting portion of the analyzer grating, is less than or equal to ¼ times the pitch of the periodic pattern. 15. The X-ray Talbot interferometer according to claim 14,whereinthe source grating, the beam splitter grating, and the analyzer grating are arranged such that the smaller one of two distances is less than or equal to ⅛ times the pitch of the periodic pattern. 16. The X-ray Talbot interferometer according to claim 15, wherein the source grating, the beam splitter grating, and the analyzer grating are arranged such that the smaller one of the two distances is less than or equal to 1/10 times the pitch of the periodic pattern. 17. The X-ray Talbot interferometer according to claim 13, wherein the source grating, the beam splitter grating, and the analyzer grating are each a grating having a grating pattern containing a plurality of periodic components in different directions. 18. The X-ray Talbot interferometer according to claim 13, further comprising:a moving unit configured to move a position of at least one of the source grating, the beam splitter grating, and the analyzer grating; andan imaging mode instruction unit configured to give an instruction indicating an imaging mode to be executed,wherein the imaging mode instruction unit is capable of indicating a first imaging mode and a second imaging mode;the first imaging mode is an imaging mode in which imaging is performed when a positional relation between the periodic pattern and a grating pattern of the analyzer grating, in the absence of any object between the source grating and the analyzer grating, is substantially the same over an entire imaging field; andthe second imaging mode is an imaging mode in which a phase stepping technique is performed. 19. The X-ray Talbot interferometer according to claim 13, further comprising a moving unit configured to move a position of at least one of the source grating, the beam splitter grating, and the analyzer grating,wherein the detector has a plurality of detection pixels configured to detect X-rays;an imaging mode can be changed from a first imaging mode to a second imaging mode or from the second imaging mode to the first imaging mode when the moving unit changes a positional relation between the interference patterns and the analyzer grating;the first imaging mode is an imaging mode in which imaging is performed when a positional relation between the periodic pattern and a grating pattern of the analyzer grating, in the absence of any object between the source grating and the analyzer grating, is substantially the same over an entire imaging field; andthe second imaging mode is an imaging mode in which imaging is performed in a state where the source grating, the beam splitter grating, and the analyzer grating are arranged such that, in the absence of any object between the source grating and the analyzer grating, an intensity distribution having a period that is 2 to 20 times a pixel pitch of the detection pixels is formed in the imaging field. 20. The X-ray Talbot interferometer according to claim 13, further comprising the X-ray source. 21. The X-ray Talbot interferometer according to claim 13, further comprising an image display unit configured to display an X-ray intensity distribution acquired by the detector.