X-ray biomedical imaging beamline at SSRF

Abstract

Since May 6, 2009, the X-ray biomedical imaging beamline at Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF) has been formally opened to users. The beamline is composed of a wiggler source with the intensity of magnetic field of 2.0 Tesla, a double crystal monochromator (DCM) cooled with liquid nitrogen, a 6-axis filter for high heat load reducing on the downstream optics such as Be window and DCM. The photon energy range for the monochromatic beam is 8–72.5keV. Three sets of digital X-ray detectors are provided to users with the pixel size range being 0.37–13μm. Several imaging methods such as micro-CT, in-line phase contrast imaging could be applied in biomedicine, material science and paleontology studies. The spatial resolution of 0.8μm and the temporal resolution of 1 ms could be realized. By the end of 2012, the beamline has provided more than 13900 hours beamtime for users, while over half of the research proposals come from biomedicine field. Nearly 2000 person-times have come and done their experiments at the beamline. More than 470 user proposals have been perfomed and more than 110 papers from users have been published. Some typical experimental results on biomedical applications will be introduced.