A high-resolution and fast, full-field transmission x-ray microscope for real-time in-vivo imaging

Recent advances in x-ray microscopy techniques, high-end optical components, and high-intensity x-ray sources have enabled nanoscale imaging with sub nano-second temporal resolution. These capabilities generally come with very high equipment and operational costs which greatly limit their availability for many scientific, industrial and medical applications. In fact, many of these applications do not require microscopy with ultrahigh temporal and/or spatial resolution, and hence the development of a lower cost and versatile x-ray microscope with moderate imaging speed and resolution is of great interest. To enable a broader utilization of x-ray microscopes in advanced R&D, industrial manufacturing, and medical diagnosis and treatment, the least developed component of an x-ray imaging system, namely the imaging detector, is the main focus of this SBIR project. For this purpose, Qrona Technologies will develop a novel high-efficiency and high-resolution x-ray detector to demonstrate the feasibility of an economical full-field transmission x-ray microscope (TXM) with an unmatched combination of spatial and temporal resolutions compared to high-end commercially available lab-based TXMs. This SBIR project is aimed at developing high-efficiency and high-resolution micro and nano-structured x-ray scintillators, using a proprietary nano-molding technique recently developed at Qrona Technologies. This technique has been successfully used to demonstrate highly ordered nano-columns of different scintillator materials with arbitrary length in order to solve the problem with reduced spatial resolution when thicker (i.e., more efficient) scintillator layers are used. To further develop and optimize the performance of these structured scintillators for a high-speed, full-field TXM, Qrona Technologies will collaborate with research groups at the Florida State University and Brookhaven National Lab. High-resolution and high-efficiency x-ray detectors, proposed in this project, can reduce the acquisition and maintenance costs of lab-based x-ray microscopes and industrial metrology tools, by reducing the need for expensive high brightness x-ray sources. Alternatively, retrofitting the currently installed TXMs with higher efficiency detectors can greatly increase their imaging speed, especially using hard x-rays. The development of more affordable high-performance microscopes can also increase their availability at smaller academic institutions. This would greatly benefit a larger community of researchers and enhance the education in these institutions. Increasing the utilization of nondestructive x-ray inspection in different industries can also enhance product performance and reliability, and reduce the production costs. Finally, the application of higher sensitivity x-ray detectors for medical imaging can greatly benefit patients by enabling earlier and more accurate diagnosis, while reducing the required radiation exposure.