Depth resolution properties of in-line X-ray phase-contrasttomosynthesis

In-line x-ray phase-contrast (XPC) tomosynthesis combines the concepts of tomosynthesis and in-line X PC imaging to utilize the advantages of both for biological imaging applications. Tomosynthesis permits reductions in acquisition times compared with conventional tomography scans while in-line XPC imaging provides high contrast and resolution in images of weakly absorbing materials, hi this work, we develop an advanced iterative algorithm as an approach for dealing with the incomplete (and often noisy) data inherent to X PC tomosynthesis. We also investigate the depth resolution properties of XPC tomosynthesis and demonstrate that the z-resolution properties of XPC tomosynthesis is superior to that of conventional absorption-based tomosynthesis. More specifically, we find in-plane structures display strong boundary-enhancement while out-of-plane structures do not. This effect can facilitate the identification of in-plane structures.