title: Increasing the field of view in grating based X-ray phase contrast imaging using stitched gratings.
abstract: Grating based X-ray differential phase contrast imaging (DPCI) allows for high contrast imaging of materials with similar absorption characteristics. In the last years' publications, small animals or parts of the human body like breast, hand, joints or blood vessels have been studied. Larger objects could not be investigated due to the restricted field of view limited by the available grating area. In this paper, we report on a new stitching method to increase the grating area significantly: individual gratings are merged on a carrier substrate. Whereas the grating fabrication process is based on the LIGA technology (X-ray lithography and electroplating) different cutting and joining methods have been evaluated. First imaging results using a 2×2 stitched analyzer grating in a Talbot-Lau interferometer have been generated using a conventional polychromatic X-ray source. The image quality and analysis confirm the high potential of the stitching method to increase the field of view considerably.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microstructure Technology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Meiser
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Institute of Medical Engineering, Technische Universität München, Garching, Germany.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Willner
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microstructure Technology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Schröter
authors.affiliation: Institute for Applied Computer Science, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hofmann
authors.affiliation: Erlangen Center for Astroparticle Physics, Friedrich - Alexander - Universität Erlangen - Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rieger
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microstructure Technology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Koch
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Institute of Medical Engineering, Technische Universität München, Garching, Germany.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Birnbacher
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microstructure Technology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany.|Department of Physics and Institute of Medical Engineering, Technische Universität München, Garching, Germany.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schüttler
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microstructure Technology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kunka
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microstructure Technology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Meyer
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microstructure Technology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Faisal
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microstructure Technology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Amberger
authors.affiliation: Microworks GmbH, Karlsruhe, Germany.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Duttenhofer
authors.affiliation: Erlangen Center for Astroparticle Physics, Friedrich - Alexander - Universität Erlangen - Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Weber
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Institute of Medical Engineering, Technische Universität München, Garching, Germany.|Institute of Materials Research, Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht, Geesthacht, Germany.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hipp
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Institute of Medical Engineering, Technische Universität München, Garching, Germany.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ehn
authors.affiliation: Microworks GmbH, Karlsruhe, Germany.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Walter
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Institute of Medical Engineering, Technische Universität München, Garching, Germany.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Herzen
authors.affiliation: Microworks GmbH, Karlsruhe, Germany.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schulz
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Institute of Medical Engineering, Technische Universität München, Garching, Germany.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pfeiffer
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microstructure Technology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mohr
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001001:Anura; D004867:Equipment Design; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D007368:Interferometry / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D011859:Radiography / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*
keywords: LIGA; X-ray phase contrast imaging; field of view; grating; stitching; talbot interferometry