Performance analysis of quantitative phase retrieval method in Zernike phase contrast X-ray microscopy*Supported by the State Key Project for Fundamental Research (2012CB825801), National Natural Science Foundation of China (11475170, 11205157 and 11179004) and Anhui Provincial Natural Science Foundation (1508085MA20).

Abstract

Since the invention of Zernike phase contrast method in 1930, it has been widely used in optical microscopy and more recently in X-ray microscopy. Considering the image contrast is a mixture of absorption and phase information, we recently have proposed and demonstrated a method for quantitative phase retrieval in Zernike phase contrast X-ray microscopy. In this contribution, we analyze the performance of this method at different photon energies. Intensity images of PMMA samples are simulated at 2.5 keV and 6.2 keV, respectively, and phase retrieval is performed using the proposed method. The results demonstrate that the proposed phase retrieval method is applicable over a wide energy range. For weakly absorbing features, the optimal photon energy is 2.5 keV, from the point of view of image contrast and accuracy of phase retrieval. On the other hand, in the case of strong absorption objects, a higher photon energy is preferred to reduce the error of phase retrieval. These results can be used as guidelines to perform quantitative phase retrieval in Zernike phase contrast X-ray microscopy with the proposed method.