X–ray absorption, phase and dark–field tomography through a beam tracking approach

We present a development of the beam–tracking approach that allows its implementation in computed tomography. One absorbing mask placed before the sample and a high resolution detector are used to track variations in the beam intensity distribution caused by the sample. Absorption, refraction, and dark–field are retrieved through a multi–Gaussian interpolation of the beam. Standard filtered back projection is used to reconstruct three dimensional maps of the real and imaginary part of the refractive index, and of the dark–field signal. While the method is here demonstrated using synchrotron radiation, its low coherence requirements suggest a possible implementation with laboratory sources.