New X-Ray Tomography Method Based on the 3D Radon Transform Compatible with Anisotropic Sources.

In this work, we propose a novel computed tomography (CT) approach for three-dimensional (3D) object reconstruction, based on a generalized tomographic geometry with two-dimensional angular sampling (two angular degrees of freedom). The reconstruction is based on the 3D Radon transform and is compatible with anisotropic beam conditions. This allows isotropic 3D imaging with a source, which can be extended along one direction for increased flux, while high resolution is achieved by a small source size only in the orthogonal direction. This novel scheme for analytical CT is demonstrated by numerical simulations and proof-of-concept experiments. In this way high resolution and coherence along a single direction determines the reconstruction quality of the entire 3D data set, opening up, for example, new opportunities to achieve nanoscale resolution and/or phase contrast with low brilliance sources such as laboratory x-ray or neutron sources.