Analysis of a silicon comb structure using an inverse Talbot-Lau neutron grating interferometer

Published

March 3, 2022

Author(s)

Youngju Kim, Daeseung Kim, Jongyul Kim, Daniel Hussey, Mona Mirzaei, Dmitri Pushin, Charles W. Clark, Seung Lee

Abstract

We describe an inverse Talbot-Lau neutron grating interferometer that provides an extended autocorrelation length range for quantitative dark-field imaging. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a Talbot-Lau neutron grating interferometer (nTLI) with inverse geometry. We demonstrate a range of autocorrelation lengths (ACL) starting at low tens of nanometers, which is significantly extended compared to the ranges of conventional and symmetric setups. Additionally, the inverse nTLI has neutron-absorbing gratings with an optically thick gadolinium oxysulfide (Gadox) structure, allowing it to provide a visibility of up to 52% while maintaining a large field of view of approximately 100 mm × 100 mm. We demonstrate the application of our interferometer to quantitative dark-field imaging by using diluted polystyrene particles in an aqueous solution and silicon comb structures and compare with results obtained from a symmetric nTLI. We obtain quantitative structural information of the sphere size and concentration of diluted polystyrene particles and the period, height, and duty cycle of the comb structures. The optically thick Gadox structure of the analyzer grating also provides improved characteristics for the correction of incoherent neutron scattering in an aqueous solution.

Citation

Science Reports

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

neutron imaging, dark-field imaging, grating interferometry

Citation

Kim, Y. , Kim, D. , Kim, J. , Hussey, D. , Mirzaei, M. , Pushin, D. , Clark, C. and Lee, S. (2022), Analysis of a silicon comb structure using an inverse Talbot-Lau neutron grating interferometer, Science Reports, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=933197 (Accessed December 13, 2024)