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Grating‐based x‐ray differential phase contrast imaging with twin peaks in phase‐stepping curves—phase retrieval and dewrapping
Author(s) -
Yang Yi,
Xie Huiqiao,
Cai Weixing,
Mao Hui,
Tang Xiangyang
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
medical physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.473
H-Index - 180
eISSN - 2473-4209
pISSN - 0094-2405
DOI - 10.1118/1.4948690
Subject(s) - grating , optics , phase (matter) , paraxial approximation , talbot effect , phase retrieval , physics , differential phase , imaging phantom , phase contrast imaging , interferometry , scattering , fourier transform , beam (structure) , quantum mechanics , phase contrast microscopy
Purpose: X‐ray differential phase contrast CT implemented with Talbot interferometry employs phase‐stepping to extract information of x‐ray attenuation, phase shift, and small‐angle scattering. Since inaccuracy may exist in the absorption grating G 2 due to an imperfect fabrication, the effective period of G 2 can be as large as twice the nominal period, leading to a phenomenon of twin peaks that differ remarkably in their heights. In this work, the authors investigate how to retrieve and dewrap the phase signal from the phase‐stepping curve (PSC) with the feature of twin peaks for x‐ray phase contrast imaging. Methods: Based on the paraxial Fresnel–Kirchhoff theory, the analytical formulae to characterize the phenomenon of twin peaks in the PSC are derived. Then an approach to dewrap the retrieved phase signal by jointly using the phases of the first‐ and second‐order Fourier components is proposed. Through an experimental investigation using a prototype x‐ray phase contrast imaging system implemented with Talbot interferometry, the authors evaluate and verify the derived analytic formulae and the proposed approach for phase retrieval and dewrapping. Results: According to theoretical analysis, the twin‐peak phenomenon in PSC is a consequence of combined effects, including the inaccuracy in absorption grating G 2 , mismatch between phase grating and x‐ray source spectrum, and finite size of x‐ray tube's focal spot. The proposed approach is experimentally evaluated by scanning a phantom consisting of organic materials and a lab mouse. The preliminary data show that compared to scanning G 2 over only one single nominal period and correcting the measured phase signal with an intuitive phase dewrapping method that is being used in the field, stepping G 2 over twice its nominal period and dewrapping the measured phase signal with the proposed approach can significantly improve the quality of x‐ray differential phase contrast imaging in both radiograph and CT. Conclusions: Using the phase retrieval and dewrapping methods proposed to deal with the phenomenon of twin peaks in PSCs and phase wrapping, the performance of grating‐based x‐ray differential phase contrast radiography and CT can be significantly improved.