Advanced Laboratory X-ray Microtomography – ALXM

For more than 25 years, synchrotron X-ray microtomography, especially in phase contrast or diffraction mode, has enabled the 3D characterization at the micro-meter scale of crystalline and amorphous media, both heterogeneous and architectured. By the earlier 2000s, laboratory X-ray micrography, which is easier of access, emerged. However, this technology currently does not offer as many possibilities as what is available at synchrotrons. This project aims to develop advanced laboratory X-ray tomography techniques taking into account phase contrast and diffraction mechanisms and using a new generation of detectors, called “color detector” to provide new information for the material scientist.
Color detectors are able to select the different energies of the X-ray beam produced by laboratory sources. They can be coupled with interferometers, to obtain simultaneously dark field images as well as phase images to be acquired in order to increase the contrast in measurements performed with laboratory X-ray scanning. Such detectors will also be used to analyze diffraction patterns to get 3D maps of the crystalline orientation.