Single-shot X-ray ptychography as a structured illumination method

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel structured illumination approach to single-shot X-ray ptychography, significantly enhancing resolution beyond traditional limits by using a calibrated, randomized probe imaging algorithm.

Contribution

It reinterprets single-shot ptychography as a structured illumination method and demonstrates a 3.5-fold resolution improvement over conventional algorithms.

Findings

Achieved 3.5 times finer resolution than traditional methods.

Reinterpreted single-shot ptychography as a structured illumination technique.

Proposed a calibration and reconstruction approach for improved imaging.

Abstract

Single-shot ptychography is a quantitative phase imaging method wherein overlapping beams of light arranged in a grid pattern simultaneously illuminate a sample, allowing a full ptychographic dataset to be collected in a single shot. It is primarily used at optical wavelengths, but there is interest in using it for X-ray imaging. However, the constraints imposed by X-ray optics have limited the resolution achievable to date. In this work, we reinterpret single-shot ptychography as a structured illumination method by viewing the grid of beams as a single, highly structured illumination function. Pre-calibrating this illumination and reconstructing single-shot data using the randomized probe imaging algorithm allows us to account for the overlap and coherent interference between the diffraction arising from each beam. We achieve a resolution 3.5 times finer than the numerical aperture-based limit imposed by traditional algorithms for single-shot ptychography. We argue that this reconstruction method will work better for most single-shot ptychography experiments and discuss the implications for the design of future single-shot X-ray microscopes.