%0 conference paper
%@ 0277-786X
%A John, D.,Riedel, M.,Gustschin, A.,Savatović, S.,Breit, A.,De Marco, F.,Bidola, P.,Hammel, J.U.,Moosmann, J.,Wieland, D.C.F.,Zeller-Plumhoff, B.,Beckmann, F.,Herzen, F.
%D 2024
%J Developments in X-Ray Tomography XV - Proceedings of SPIE
%N 
%P 1315215 
%R doi:10.1117/12.3027345
%T Recent developments in quantitative phase-contrast microtomography using Talbot Array Illuminators
%U https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3027345
 
%X This study explores recent developments in quantitative phase-contrast microtomography using Talbot Array Illuminators (TAI) combined with Unified Modulated Pattern Analysis (UMPA). We first compare the performance of the TAI-based method for phase-retrieval with propagation-based imaging (PBI) for analyzing a Mg-10Gd bone implant sample that violates the single-material assumption. Our results demonstrate that the TAI method yields a significantly higher contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) compared to PBI (101.68 vs. 54.37, an 87% improvement) while maintaining comparable edge sharpness. The TAI method also visualizes a substructure of the degradation layer, which appears comparatively blurred in the PBI images. Additionally, we introduce a hanging-rotation-axis approach for imaging paraffin-embedded samples in an ethanol bath, aiming to reduce edge enhancement artifacts caused by large electron density differences. Preliminary results indicate that the TAI-based images of a paraffin-embedded lymph node show improved uniformity in background intensity, though some additional low-frequency noise is observed. All experiments were conducted at the High Energy Materials Beamline (HEMS), PETRA III, DESY, operated by Hereon. Our findings highlight the potential of TAI-based phase-contrast imaging for complex, multi-material samples and suggest avenues for further optimization of the technique.