Darkfield x-ray images make better pictures

SEPTEMBER 25, 2008--Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) and the EPFL in Switzerland have developed a method for producing darkfield x-ray images at wavelengths used in medical and industrial imaging equipment. Darkfield images provide more detail than ordinary x-ray radiographs and could be used to diagnose the onset of osteoporosis, breast cancer, or Alzheimer's disease; to identify explosives in hand luggage; or to pinpoint hairline cracks or corrosion in functional structures. Up until this point, darkfield x-ray imaging required sophisticated optics and could only be produced at facilities like PSI's 100-m-diameter, $200 million synchrotron. With the new nano-structured gratings, darkfield images could soon be produced using ordinary x-ray equipment already in place in hospitals and airports around the world.

For more information, go to http://actualites.epfl.ch/presseinfo-com?id=546.