Multiple differential-aperture microscopy

Differential-aperture X-ray microscopy (DAXM) is a powerful approach to 3D tomography with particular relevance to X-ray microdiffraction. With DAXM, scattering from submicron volumes can be resolved. However, the method is intrinsically a scanning technique where every resolved volume element (voxel) requires at least one area-detector readout. Previous applications of DAXM have used a single wire for knife-edge step profiling. Here, we demonstrate a way to accelerate DAXM measurements using multiple wires. A proof-of-principle experiment with a three-wire prototype showed that the speed of measurements can be tripled, but careful calibrations of wires will be required to maintain the spatial accuracy. In addition, related possibilities for accelerating measurements are briefly discussed.