X-ray phase change permits imaging of soft tissue

17 Jun 2002

Scientists at CSIRO, Australia's national research organization, have developed a new method for taking x-ray pictures that give sharper images of soft tissue and reduce the x-ray dosage received by patients. Dr Stephen Wilkins and his team from the Division of Materials Science and Technology developed the method based on the capacity of materials to change the phase of the x-rays that pass through them. It can be used to get pin-sharp pictures from objects that absorb x-rays only weakly.

Until now, this kind of radiography has been possible only with sophisticated and expensive x-ray optics and very pure x-ray sources - the x-ray equivalent of a laser. But the researchers have found a way of coaxing the information needed from conventional x-ray sources. The work is reported in the current issue of Nature.