Large phase-stepping approach for high-resolution hard X-ray grating-based multiple-information imaging

High-resolution hard X-ray grating-based imaging method with conventional X-ray sources provides attenuation, refraction and scattering information synchronously, and it is regarded as the next-generation X-ray imaging technology for medical and industrial applications. In this letter, a large phase-stepping approach with at least one order of magnitude lower resolution of the movement is presented to equivalently substitute the current high-positioning-resolution phase-stepping approach. Both the theoretical deduction and actual experiment prove that the new approach is available to relax the requirement of high positioning resolution and strict circumstances so as to benefit the future commercial applications of the grating-based multiple-information imaging technology.