title: An experimental method of determining relative phase-contrast factor for x-ray imaging systems.
abstract: The relative phase-contrast factor (RPF) represents a quantitative measure of the phase-contrast transfer in x-ray in-line phase-contrast imaging. The larger the modulus of RPF(u, v) is, the more the phase-contrast manifests. In this work we show how the RPF can be determined by measurements of the focal spot size and x-ray spectra for a x-ray imaging system with a micro-focus x-ray tube. The results show the significant effects of x-ray beam hardening on the visibility of phase-contrast, and reveal a new dimension in seeking optimal techniques for x-ray phase-contrast imaging.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama 35233, USA. xwu@uabmc.edu
authors.forename: Xizeng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wua
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D011856:Radiographic Image Enhancement / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D011857:Radiographic Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity