X-ray nanotomography using near-field ptychography

Marco Stockmar (1, 2) , Maxime Hubert (3, 4) , Martin Dierolf (1, 2) , Bjoern Enders (1, 2) , Richard Clare (1, 2) , Sebastian Allner (1, 2) , Andreas Fehringer (1, 2) , Irene Zanette (1, 2) , Julie Villanova (3) , Jerome Laurencin (4) , Peter Cloetens (3) , Franz Pfeiffer (1, 5, 2) , Pierre Thibault (6)

1 Tech Univ Munich, Inst Med Tech, D-85748 Garching, Germany
2 Tech Univ Munich, Lehrstuhl Biomed Phys, Dept Phys, D-85748 Garching, Germany
3 ESRF - European Synchrotron Radiation Facility
4 LITEN - Laboratoire d'Innovation pour les Technologies des Energies Nouvelles et les nanomatériaux
5 Tech Univ Munich, Klinikum Rechts Isar, Inst Diagnost & Intervent Radiol, D-81675 Munich, Germany
6 UCL, Dept Phys & Astron, London, England

Propagation-based imaging or inline holography in combination with computed tomography (holotomography) is a versatile tool to access a sample's three-dimensional (3D) micro or nano structure. However, the phase retrieval step needed prior to tomographic reconstruction can be challenging especially for strongly absorbing and refracting samples. Near-field ptychography is a recently developed phase imaging method that has been proven to overcome this hurdle in projection data. In this work we extend near-field ptychography to three dimensions and we show that, in combination with tomography, it can access the nano structure of a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC). The quality of the resulting tomographic data and the structural properties of the anode extracted from this volume were compared to previous results obtained with holotomography. This work highlights the potential of 3D near-field ptychography for reliable and detailed investigations of samples at the nanometer scale, with important applications in materials and life sciences among others. (C) 2015 Optical Society of America

Domaines: Optique [physics.optics]

Marco Stockmar, Maxime Hubert, Martin Dierolf, Bjoern Enders, Richard Clare, et al.. X-ray nanotomography using near-field ptychography. Optics Express, 2015, 23 (10), pp.12720-12731. ⟨10.1364/OE.23.012720⟩. ⟨hal-01572817⟩