Towards routine 3D characterization of intact mesoscale samples by multi-scale and multimodal scanning X-ray tomography

Non-invasive multi-scale and multimodal 3D characterization of heterogeneous or hierarchically structured intact mesoscale samples is of paramount importance in tackling challenging scientific problems. Scanning hard X-ray tomography techniques providing simultaneous complementary 3D information are ideally suited to such studies. However, the implementation of a robust on-site workflow remains the bottleneck for the widespread application of these powerful multimodal tomography methods. In this paper, we describe the development and implementation of such a robust, holistic workflow, including semi-automatic data reconstruction. Due to its flexibility, our approach is especially well suited for on-the-fly tuning of the experiments to study features of interest progressively at different length scales. To demonstrate the performance of the method, we studied, across multiple length scales, the elemental abundances and morphology of two complex biological systems, Arabidopsis plant seeds and mouse renal papilla samples. The proposed approach opens the way towards routine multimodal 3D characterization of intact samples by providing relevant information from pertinent sample regions in a wide range of scientific fields such as biology, geology, and material sciences.