Design and characterization of high energy micro-CT with a laser-based X-ray source

Abstract The increasingly demand for machining accuracy and product quality excites a great interest in high-resolution non-destructive testing (NDT) methods, but spatial resolution of conventional high-energy computed tomography (CT) is limited to sub-millimeter because of large X-ray spot size. Therefore, we propose a novel high-resolution high-energy CT based on laser-driven X-ray source and prove its feasibility to allow high-spatial-resolution tomographic imaging of dense objects. A numerical model is developed with a consideration of realistic factors including parameter fluctuations, statistical noise and detecting efficiency. By using modulation transfer functions, the system performance is quantitatively characterized and optimized in terms of source characteristics, detector pixel size, geometrical configuration and projection parameters. As a result, the simulated tomography for a high-density object (up to 19.35 g/cm3) achieves a basic spatial resolution of 64.9 μm. This concept expands the prospects of laser-based compact X-ray sources and shows a great potential to achieve high-perspectivity micro-CT imaging for various industrial applications.