Characterization of medical and biological samples with a Talbot–Lau grating interferometer μXCT in comparison to reference methods

Abstract

Talbot–Lau grating interferometry is a new innovative X-ray technology in the field of radiography and computed tomography that extends the imaging capabilities of absorption contrast (AC) in medicine and material science by the introduction of differential phase contrast (DPC) and dark-field contrast (DFC). This paper discusses the benefits of the additional imaging modality of DFC provided by a new desktop Talbot–Lau μXCT system (SkyScan 1294). With this system, selected medical and biological samples such as medical foam, cortical bone, molar tooth, and barley corn seed samples have been imaged and compared to reference methods such as high-resolution μXCT and optical coherence tomography (OCT) regarding information gain and contrast.