Collimation-enhanced micro-radiography in real-time

Highly collimated synchrotron sources are the essential ingredient of novel radiology and micro-radiology techniques for materials science. medicine a nd biology-with contrast based on the refractive index rather than on absor ption. We were able to implement a real-time version of such techniques. Su ccessful test studies included thin-foil breaking and electrodeposition pro cesses in the areas concerning materials properties. Meanwhile. extensive e ffort was dedicated to obtain high-quality X-ray images of live specimens o n a microscopic scale and in real time. These tests achieved a lateral reso lution better than 2 mum and a time per image of 10 ms, with clear potentia l for further improvements. The images revealed in great detail moving part s of different specimens. opening the way to a wide variety of applications in the life sciences, medicine and materials science. (C) 2001 Published b y Elsevier Science B.V.