Region-of-interest micro-focus CT based on an all-optical inverse Compton scattering source

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the first high-resolution micro-focus CT imaging using an all-optical inverse Compton scattering source, showcasing its potential for hyperfine nondestructive testing with complex internal structures.

Contribution

It introduces the first experimental high-fidelity micro-focus CT using AOCS at ~70 keV, employing ROI method to overcome field-of-view limitations.

Findings

Successful imaging of complex internal structures

High-resolution reconstruction achieved

Potential for advanced nondestructive testing

Abstract

Micro-focus computed tomography (CT), enabling the reconstruction of hyperfine structure within objects, is a powerful nondestructive testing tool in many fields. Current X-ray sources for micro-focus CT are typically limited by their relatively low photon energy and low flux. An all-optical inverse Compton scattering source (AOCS) based on laser wakefield accelerator (LWFA) can generate intense quasi-monoenergetic X/gamma-ray pulses in the keV-MeV range with micron-level source size, and its potential application for micro-focus CT has become very attractive in recent years due to the fast pace progress made in LWFA. Here we report the first experimental demonstration of high-fidelity micro-focus CT using AOCS (~70 keV) by imaging and reconstructing a test object with complex inner structures. A region-of-interest (ROI) CT method is adopted to utilize the relatively small field-of-view (FOV) of AOCS to obtain high-resolution reconstruction. This demonstration of the ROI micro-focus CT based on AOCS is a key step for its application in the field of hyperfine nondestructive testing.