Small angle X-ray scattering tensor tomography

Imaging systems leveraging on the small angle X-ray scattering signal are sensitive to microstructures with feature sizes well below the intrinsic setup resolution and in a large field of view.  It has been demonstrated that dedicated optical elements with a circular shape, in addition to isotropic structural information, also provide projection images with details on anisotropic features in a single shot. When this information is combined in a tomographic approach, it is possible to efficiently study in 3D materials with structures with an orientation varying in space and time. In addition, the single shot characteristic of this technique combined with the high flux of synchrotron facilities is perfectly suited for in-situ and time resolved studies, sparking new unique opportunities for materials science applications for instance in the aerospace and energy fields.

Currently the intrinsic spatial resolution of the setup is limited by the dedicated optical elements to about 100 microns and the nano- and microstructures of interest are assumed to be homogeneously oriented within voxels of this size.

To move the technique forward, it is imperative to diversify the intrinsic spatial resolution of the setup by developing sets of different optical elements and to generalize the assumptions about the structural orientation within a voxel, with more sophisticated theoretical frameworks than used so far to cover more complex arrangements of microstructures.