Source: https://www.osapublishing.org/optica/abstract.cfm?uri=optica-5-2-199
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 03:08:51+00:00

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Laser-driven x-ray sources are an emerging alternative to conventional x-ray tubes and synchrotron sources. We present results on microtomographic x-ray imaging of a cancellous human bone sample using synchrotron-like betatron radiation. The source is driven by a 100-TW-class titanium–sapphire laser system and delivers over 108 X-ray photons per second. Compared to earlier studies, the acquisition time for an entire tomographic dataset has been reduced by more than an order of magnitude. Additionally, the reconstruction quality benefits from the use of statistical iterative reconstruction techniques. Depending on the desired resolution, tomographies are thereby acquired within minutes, which is an important milestone toward real-life applications of laser–plasma x-ray sources.
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Fig. 1. Top: Experimental layout (not to scale). The laser pulse is focused using an f/25 off-axis parabola on a hydrogen gas cell of variable length. As a result of the laser–plasma interaction in the cell, electrons and x-rays are generated. The sample is placed between the gas cell and the dipole magnet spectrometer, protected by an aluminum foil. X-rays are detected on the x-ray detector with a geometrical magnification of ∼4–7. Middle: Average electron beam spectrum and beam profile (inset) for 20 consecutive shots. The shaded area indicates the RMS error; dots in the inset show the beam pointing of individual shots. Bottom: Average x-ray spectrum at the detector as reconstructed from filter transmissions over 20 consecutive shots. The shaded area indicates the RMS error; the inset shows the average image of the filter transmissions.
Fig. 2. Tomography of cancellous bone sample. Bottom left: Photograph of the sample. Top left: Macro photography as in the experimental setup. Center: Radiograph using the scintillator camera. Right: Rendering of the tomographic reconstruction with statistical image reconstruction (SIR), showing transverse and longitudinal cross sections.
Fig. 3. Projection slices for the tomographic reconstruction with SIR. Insets show the position of the slices relative to the raw data.
Fig. 4. Quick tomography: Comparison between reconstruction with filtered back-projection (top) and statistical iterative reconstruction (bottom).

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