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arXiv · 2606.05269

Spatial resolution of X-ray beam-tracking microscopy

Harry Allan·Carlos Navarrete-León·Adam Doherty·Shashidhara Marathe·Kaz Wanelik·Marco Endrizzi
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Abstract

X-ray beam-tracking is a phase-contrast imaging technique capable of simultaneously retrieving transmission, phase, and dark-field images. Although the spatial resolution in beam-tracking is largely considered to be 'aperture driven', no model yet exists to describe this in full. The dark-field channel is of particular interest, due to previous observations of anomalously high sharpness compared to transmission and phase channels. We derive a full optical transfer function model for each contrast channel using the Fokker-Planck equation for near-field imaging. Experimental validation using both synchrotron-based and laboratory-based setups, with 15 um circular and 10 um rectangular apertures, reveals a limiting resolution of at least 3 um, much smaller than the apertures themselves. Together, the model and the supporting experiments offer a full description of spatial resolution in beam-tracking, and formally confirm the greater spatial resolution in the dark-field channel. These findings open new possibilities in system design and experimental protocols to exploit these capabilities.

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Harry Allan, Carlos Navarrete-León, Adam Doherty, Shashidhara Marathe, Kaz Wanelik, Marco Endrizzi. 2026-06-03. Spatial resolution of X-ray beam-tracking microscopy. https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.05269

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