Resolution enhancement in coherent x-ray diffraction imaging by overcoming instrumental noise.
We report that reference objects, strong scatterers neighboring weak phase objects, enhance the phase retrieval and spatial resolution in coherent x-ray diffraction imaging (CDI). A CDI experiment with Au nano-particles exhibited that the reference objects amplified the signal-to-noise ratio in the diffraction intensity at large diffraction angles, which significantly enhanced the image resolution. The interference between the diffracted x-ray from reference objects and a specimen also improved the retrieval of the phase of the diffraction signal. The enhancement was applied to image NiO nano-particles and a mitochondrion and confirmed in a simulation with a bacteria phantom. We expect that the proposed method will be of great help in imaging weakly scattering soft matters using coherent x-ray sources including x-ray free electron lasers.
Chan
C
Kim
Yoonhee
Y
Kim
Changyong
C
Song
Sang Soo
SS
Kim
Sunam
S
Kim
Hyon Chol
HC
Kang
Yeukuang
Y
Hwu
Ku-Ding
KD
Tsuei
Keng San
KS
Liang
Do Young
do Y
Noh
D003952:Diagnostic Imaging; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D059629:Signal-To-Noise Ratio; D014961:X-Ray Diffraction / Q000379:methods*