Performance assessment of a high resolution X-ray scatter imaging system with multi-momentum transfer capability

X-ray Scatter Imaging (XSI) is a technique based on exploiting the capability of coherently scattered X-rays to probe the structure of matter at molecular level which can produce images with higher contrast and specificity than conventional transmission imaging. A novel XSI system was developed, featuring improved spatial resolution and ability to exploit photon energy information. To this purpose we employed a collimation system based on parallel polycapillaries each having a diameter of some 10¿m. This approach lead to a dramatic improvement of position resolution, which is now limited by the detector pixel size. A Controlled Drift Detector - a 2D X-ray imager with single-photon spectroscopic resolution - was employed. It allows the use of monochromatic and polychromatic sources, hence easing the translation from the synchrotron environment to the laboratory, and opening the way for simultaneous acquisition of images at multiple values of the momentum transfer. In order to fully assess the performance of the upgraded XSI system, a thorough experimental campaign was carried out under several defined conditions in the laboratory with a conventional source. The obtained results, as well as the feasibility and limitations of the proposed approach are discussed.