X-ray Phase Contrast Imaging System Research Articles

Design of a Talbot phase-contrast microscopy imaging system with a digital detector for laser-driven X-ray backlighter sources

Laser-driven shock waves in matter propagate with multiple kilometers per second and therefore require sources like a laser-driven backlighter, which emit the X-rays within picoseconds, to be able to capture sharp images. The small spatial extent of shocks in low-density materials pose challenges on the imaging setup. In this work, we present a design process for a single-shot X-ray phase-contrast imaging system geared towards these objects, consisting of a two-grating Talbot interferometer and a digital X-ray detector. This imaging system is optimized with respect to the detectable refraction angle of the X-rays induced by an object, which implies a high phase sensitivity. Therefore, an optimization parameter is defined that considers experimental constraints such as the limited number of photons, the required magnification, the size and spectrum of the X-ray source, and the visibility of the moiré fringes. In this way, a large parameter space is sampled and a suitable imaging system is chosen. During a campaign at the PHELIX high-power laser facility a static test sample was imaged which is used to benchmark the optimization process and the imaging system under real conditions. The results show good agreement with the predicted performance, which demonstrates the reliability of the presented design process. Likewise, the process can be adapted to other types of laser experiments or X-ray sources and is not limited to the application presented here.

Bottom-up Gold Filling of Trenches in Curved Wafers

A Bi3+ -stimulated Au electrodeposition process in slightly alkaline Na3AuSO32+Na2SO3 electrolytes has been previously demonstrated for void-free extreme bottom-up filling of high aspect ratio trenches in gratings that are key to advanced X-ray imaging technologies. Effective use of the full area of the gratings with conventional X-ray sources requires they have a finite radius of curvature to align the high aspect ratio Au-filled trenches with divergent X-rays. With that in mind, this work demonstrates bottom-up Au filling in gratings that are attached to curved holders. Contactless mapping of the Au-filled gratings captures residual curvature that is retained after their release from the curved holders (i.e., intrinsic curvature). X-ray diffraction captures the elastic strains in the Si underlying the Au-filled trenches of the grating. Complementary measurements on the surfaces of unpatterned Si wafers mounted on curved holders capture the actual curvatures and strains imposed in the mounted gratings. The gratings, either intrinsically curved or re-bent, provide high visibility across the entire field of view of an X-ray phase contrast imaging system with elastic strains substantially below those in planar gratings bent to the same radius.

Dynamic flyer in barrel imaging via high intensity short-pulse laser.

The thin flyer is a small-scale flying object, which is well known as the core functional element of the initiator. Understanding how flyers perform has been a long-standing issue in detonator science. However, it remains a significant challenge to explore how the flyer is formed and functions in the barrel of the initiator via tabletop devices. In this study, we present dynamic and unprecedented images of flyer in barrel via high intensity short-pulse laser. Advanced radiography, coupled with a high-intensity picosecond laser X-ray source, has enabled the provision of state-of-the-art radiographs in a single-shot experiment for observing micron-scale flyer formation in a hollow cylinder in nanoseconds. The flyer was clearly visible in the barrel and was accelerated and restricted differently from that without the barrel. This first implementation of a tabletop X-ray source provided a new approach for capturing dynamic photographs of small-scale flying objects, which were previously reported to be accessible only via an X-ray phase-contrast imaging system at the advanced photon source. These efforts have led to a significant improvement of radiographic capability and a greater understanding of the mechanisms of "burst" of exploding foil initiators for this application.

Phase retrieval for X-ray differential phase contrast radiography with knowledge transfer learning from virtual differential absorption model

Grating-based X-ray phase contrast radiography and computed tomography (CT) are promising modalities for future medical applications. However, the ill-posed phase retrieval problem in X-ray phase contrast imaging has hindered its use for quantitative analysis in biomedical imaging. Deep learning has been proved as an effective tool for image retrieval. However, in practical grating-based X-ray phase contrast imaging system, acquiring the ground truth of phase to form image pairs is challenging, which poses a great obstacle for using deep leaning methods. Transfer learning is widely used to address the problem with knowledge inheritance from similar tasks. In the present research, we propose a virtual differential absorption model and generate a training dataset with differential absorption images and absorption images. The knowledge learned from the training is transferred to phase retrieval with transfer learning techniques. Numerical simulations and experiments both demonstrate its feasibility. Image quality of retrieved phase radiograph and phase CT slices is improved when compared with representative phase retrieval methods. We conclude that this method is helpful in both X-ray 2D and 3D imaging and may find its applications in X-ray phase contrast radiography and X-ray phase CT.

A novel fusion method for X-ray phase contrast imaging based on fast adaptive bidimensional empirical mode decomposition.

X-ray phase contrast imaging (XPCI) can separate the attenuation, refraction, and scattering signals of the object. The application of image fusion enables the concentration of distinctive information into a single image. Some methods have been applied in XPCI field, but wavelet-based decomposition approaches often result in loss of original data. To explore the application value of a novel image fusion method for XPCI system and computed tomography (CT) system. The means of fast adaptive bidimensional empirical mode decomposition (FABEMD) is considered for image decomposition to avoid unnecessary information loss. A parameter δ is proposed to guide the fusion of bidimensional intrinsic mode functions which contain high-frequency information, using a pulse coupled neural network with morphological gradients (MGPCNN). The residual images are fused by the energy attribute fusion strategy. Image preprocessing and enhancement are performed on the result to ensure its quality. The effectiveness of other image fusion methods has been compared, such as discrete wavelet transforms and anisotropic diffusion fusion. The δ-guided FABEMD-MGPCNN method achieved either the first or second position in objective evaluation metrics with biological samples, as compared to other image fusion methods. Moreover, comparisons are made with other fusion methods used for XPCI. Finally, the proposed method applied in CT show expected results to retain the feature information. The proposed δ-guided FABEMD-MGPCNN method shows potential feasibility and superiority over traditional and recent image fusion methods for X-ray differential phase contrast imaging and computed tomography systems.

Characterization of the solid deuterium layer in the inertial confinement fusion cryogenic target without the requirement of cryocooler deactivation

For the preparation of cryogenic fuel layer in inertial confinement fusion experiments, the vibration amplitude of cryogenic target must be reduced to the order of 1 μm or less to ensure the fuel layer to be distinguished by the X-ray phase contrast imaging system. An efficient vibration-reduction system with the Gifford-McMahon cryocooler mounted at the horizontal direction is designed, which is based on a two-stage floating thermal shielding and flexible connection. The obtained lowest temperature of the sample mount is less than 10 K, the temperature stability is within ±1 mK@18 K, the cooling power is greater than 500 mW, and the corresponding vibration amplitude is less than 1 μm. With this proposed method, the X-ray phase contrast imaging of cryogenic deuterium layer can be performed successively without requirement of cryocooler deactivation. Finally, the achieved resolution of the X-ray phase contrast imaging is about 1.5 μm while the contrast of solid-gas interface is larger than 5%, which is verified by the in-situ characterization of solidification of deuterium in the cryogenic target.

Fluence adaptation for contrast-based dose optimization in x-ray phase-contrast imaging.

X-ray phase-contrast imaging (XPCI) can provide multiple contrasts with great potentials for clinical and industrial applications, including conventional attenuation, phase contrast, and dark field. Grating-based imaging (GBI) and edge-illumination (EI) are two promising types of XPCI as the conventional x-ray sources can be directly utilized. For the GBI and EI systems, the phase-stepping acquisition with multiple exposures at a constant fluence is usually adopted in the literature.This work, however, attempts to challenge such a constant fluence concept during the phase-stepping process and proposes a fluence adaptation mechanism for dosereduction. Given the importance of patient radiation dose for clinical applications, numerous studies have tried to reduce patient dose in XPCI by altering imaging system designs, data acquisition, and information retrieval. Recently, analytic multiorder moment analysis has been proposed to improve the computing efficiency. In these algorithms, multiple contrasts can be calculated by summing together the weighted phase-stepping curves (PSCs) with some kernel functions, which suggests us that the raw data at different steps have different contributions for the noise in retrieved contrasts. Therefore, it is possible to improve the noise performance by adjusting the fluence distribution during the phase-stepping process directly. Based on analytic retrieval formulas and the Gaussian noise model for detected signals, we derived an optimal adaptive fluence distribution, which is proportional to the absolute weighting kernel functions and the root of original sample PSCs acquired under the constant fluence. Considering that the original sample PSC might be unavailable, we proposed two practical forms for the GBI and EI systems, which are also able to reduce the contrast noise when comparing with the constant fluence distribution. Since the kernel functions are target contrast-dependent, our proposed fluence adaptation mechanism provides a way of realizing a contrast-based dose optimization while keeping the same noiselevel. To validate our analyses, simulations and experiments are conducted for the GBI and EI systems. Simulated results demonstrate that the dose reduction ratio between our proposed fluence distributions and the typical constant one can be about 20% for the phase contrast, which is consistent with our theoretical predictions. Although the experimental noise reduction ratios are a little smaller than the theoretical ones, low-dose experiments observe better noise performance by our proposed method. Our simulated results also give out the effective ranges of the parameters of the PSCs, such as the visibility in the GBI, the standard deviation, and the mean value in the EI, providing a guidance for the use of our proposed approach inpractice. In this paper, we propose a fluence adaptation mechanism for contrast-based dose optimization in XPCI, which can be applied to the GBI and EI systems. Our proposed method explores a new direction for dose reduction, and may also be further extended to other types of XPCI systems and information retrievalalgorithms.

Image Quality Analysis of X-ray Grating Interferometer Using Integrating-bucket Method

Abstract Grating-based x-ray phase-contrast imaging has the potential to enhance image quality and provide inner structure details non-destructively. In this work, using grating-based x-ray phase-contrast imaging system and employing integrating-bucket method, the quantitative expressions of signal-to-noise ratios due to photon statistics and mechanical error are analyzed in detail. Photon statistical noise and mechanical error are the main sources affecting the image noise in x-ray grating interferometry. Integrating-bucket method is a new phase extraction method translated to x-ray grating interferometry; hence, its image quality analysis would be of great importance to get high-quality phase image. The authors’ conclusions provide an alternate method to get high-quality refraction signal using grating interferometer, and hence increases applicability of grating interferometry in preclinical and clinical usage.

Single-shot, high sensitivity X-ray phase contrast imaging system based on a Hartmann mask

Significant efforts are currently ongoing in X-Ray imaging to provide multimodal imaging systems, targeting better sensitivity and specificity for both biomedical or non-destructive testing (NDT) applications. X-Ray Phase Contrast Imaging (X-PCI) shows great capability to differentiate elements with similar absorption. For example, in the medical field, knowing the chemical composition of breast microcalcifications would help to differentiate malign and benign tumors. The composition can be determined from the measurement of the phase as the optical index of materials is directly related to the composition. We propose a novel, high-sensitivity X-ray quantitative phase imaging system based on a Hartmann wavefront sensor. The system provides high resolution (20?m without magnification) and high sensitivity (~100 nrad), and is compatible with tomographic experiments using both synchrotron beamlines or laboratory sources. We present here our first X-PCI prototype as well as the first images obtained. We also present an alternative design based on the same approach, providing larger field-of-view at the cost of some trade-off regarding resolution and sensitivity and the first tomographic results obtained with this imaging system.

A fast alignment method for grating-based X-ray phase-contrast imaging systems

The alignment of a grating-based X-ray phase-contrast interferometer is an iterative process that requires numerous steps of changing the distances and angles between the gratings. For each alignment step an image is acquired to evaluate the detected intensity signature in order to optimize the observed moir'e pattern. Thus, a large number of images has to be taken for the alignment procedure. This is not feasible within reasonable time at X-ray sources like X-ray backlighters where the time between two X-ray shots is on the scale of hours. Here, we report on the development of a stable and transportable setup ready-to-use for grating-based X-ray phase-contrast imaging. A comprehensive set of reference images taken at a continuous beam serves as a look-up table which enables the grating alignment within very few alignment steps. Since this method features a fast, reliable and predictable alignment, it is also beneficial for grating-based X-ray phase-contrast imaging systems at common X-ray sources.

Breast phantom design for X-ray phase-contrast imaging

Breast cancer is one of the most diffuse diseases and its incidence rate is increasing. Mammography is the gold standard exam for screening breast cancer. Nevertheless, to provide better conditions for visualization and detection of tumors, in particular to young women, techniques exploiting the X-ray phase contrast to generate images have been studied and proposed for clinical use. As every imaging modality clinically implemented, the capabilities and limitations of an X-ray phase-contrast system dedicated to breast imaging should be evaluated by a phantom. Although for mammography, there are several commercial phantoms, for tomographic X-ray phase-contrast imaging systems dedicated to breast screening, they are absent. Therefore, this study aimed to design a breast phantom for application in phase-contrast computed tomography (PC-CT) imaging. A breast phantom dedicated to X-ray phase-contrast imaging was designed. The phantom has a cylindrical shape and is composed by PMMA, to mimic the breast of a young woman, with some inserts filled with tissue substitutes to normal and pathological breast tissues, such as ethanol and glycerol. These materials were chosen due to the similarity in the attenuation and scattering properties of normal and pathological human breast tissues. A comparison between tomographic X-ray absorption imaging and tomographic X-ray phase-contrast imaging showed a significant increase in edges definition, even with materials with similar attenuation properties. The results of this work reinforce the need for dedicated phantoms to exploit the features of each imaging modality more realistic. In particular, the breast phantom–designed breast screening by PC-CT allows exploiting the features of this new imaging modality.

Phase-contrast X-ray Imaging System Using Two-crystal X-ray Interferometer and Its Industrial Applications

Phase-contrast X-ray Imaging System Using Two-crystal X-ray Interferometer and Its Industrial Applications

Effect of alloy element on weld pool dynamics in laser welding of aluminum alloys

In this manuscript, weld pool dynamics in laser welding of various series of aluminum alloys were investigated by the in situ X-ray phase contrast imaging system. The experimental results showed that metal irradiated by laser was evaporated immediately, which generated the keyhole. Then metal surrounding the keyhole was melted gradually with the heat from keyhole. The growth rate of keyhole depth had a positive linear correlation with the total content of low boiling temperature elements (TCE), so did the keyhole depth and diameter at the stable stage. Longitudinal view area of the molten pool had a negative linear correlation with the thermal conductivity of aluminum alloy. The measured laser absorption rate had the same variation trend with the ratio of keyhole depth to diameter, and the highest absorption rate of 58% appeared in laser welding of aluminum alloy with TCE equal to 2.1%. Violent fluctuation in keyhole shape was avoided in aluminum alloy with TCE lower than 2.1%, where the surface tension and recoil pressure of metal vapor were balanced. To sum up, the effect of alloy element on weld pool dynamics in laser welding of aluminum alloys was firstly quantified in this manuscript.

Electroformed Fabrication of Extremely High Aspect Ratio Diffraction Gratings for X-Ray Phase Contrast Imaging

Sandia National Laboratories has developed extremely high aspect ratio, small feature diffraction gratings. Rising interest in non-destructive imaging using X-ray phase contrast imaging (XPCI), has created a need to produce large 100 cm2 area, small 2 µm dimension, high aspect ratio (> 50:1) x-ray absorbing, metal diffraction gratings. Lab based XPCI systems have been primarily the interest of the medical community but have excited other industries with the ability to detect defects in low density materials. Imaging higher density materials or thicker samples requires higher x-ray energies. Higher x-ray energies require thicker gratings, increasing the already challenging aspect ratio demands on the three gratings in an XPCI system. Our work investigates anisotropic aqueous etching of monocrystalline silicon, in conjunction with precision electroformed gold coatings to fabricate such gratings. We show methods for determining Si crystalline plane directions and techniques to achieve high alignment accuracy of an etch mask to these crystalline planes. This enables a deep potassium hydroxide etching, which we follow with a precision electroplating process over a ridged Si template to achieve small dimension, deep anisotropic 1D trenches. Several observations are made regarding the difficulty of accurate alignment to silicon crystalline planes for high accuracy, with subsequent electroformed gold coatings, to achieve optimal pitch and grating feature dimensions. Figure 1 shows the result of aspect ratios demonstrated at 80:1, with a precision electroformed gold coating. Improvements to alignment features and etch process are being studied and show promise to continue increasing accuracy for higher aspect ratio gratings to increase energy exposures in XPCI systems.

Precision Au Electrocoating of Double Sided Aligned Si Gratings for High Energy X-Ray Phase Contrast Imaging

State of the art grating fabrication currently limits the maximum source energy that can be used in lab based x-ray phase contrast imaging (XPCI) systems. In order to move to higher source energies, and image thicker and more dense materials, new grating fabrication methods are needed. In previous work we developed a differentiating mold construction technique that replaces photodefinable organic templates1 with high aspect ratio silicon (Si) deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) followed by precision electrodeposition of gold (Au)2. Combining DRIE with precision electro-coating enabled the fabrication of un-supported Au absorption gratings with aspect ratios as high as 50:1 and grating areas as large as 100 cm2. Further pushing this grating fabrication to enable the use of higher energy x-ray sources, we developed a new modality for grating fabrication that involves precision alignment of etched features on both sides of a substrate, effectively doubling the thickness of the. This double sided grating fabrication approach was applied to make a phase grating out of DRIE Si. In this work, we couple double sided Si DRIE with precision gold (Au) electrodeposition to fabricate absorption gratings for high energy lab based XPCI. A 250 µm deep, 2 µm wide, and 4 µm pitch absorption grating was fabricated by aligning and etching 125 µm deep grating features on both sides of a Si wafer. The Si grating features are patterned and etched on an 8 µm pitch with the width of the Si features patterned at 2 µm. Fabricating uniform, high aspect ratio features across large areas on both sides of a substrate is difficult due to the need to temporarily protect one side of the grating while processing on the opposite side of the substrate. After both sides are processed, this temporary support material must be removed without damaging the gratings on either side of the substrate. At these feature sizes, surface tension forces after wet processing are strong enough to collapse the grating features and must be carefully avoided. Our integration approach for accommodating these challenges is illustrated in Figure 1. Alignment features are first patterned and etched into both sides of the substrate. The front side gratings are then patterned with reference to the front side field image alignment marks and etched into the Si. Plasma enhanced tetraethylorthosilicate (PETEOS) SiO2 is then deposited to protect the front side gratings during backside processing. The backside gratings are similarly aligned using the alignment marks on the backside of the substrate. After the gratings on both sides of the substrate are etched, a selective wet etch is used to remove the supportive oxide and a critical point dryer is used to prevent surface tension forces from damaging the Si bars. A conformal platinum (Pt) plating seed metal is deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD) and Au is precisely electroplated at a uniform thickness of 2 μm throughout the depth of the Si grating. The Au serves as a high x-ray absorbing material finalizing the fabrication process. In this work, we provide details on our fabrication approach and measurements of our final grating geometries. Supported by the Laboratory Directed Research and Development program at Sandia National Laboratories, a multimission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC., a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International, Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA-0003525. [1] - High Aspect Ratio Gratings for X-Ray Phase Contrast Imaging: J. Mohr, T. Grund, D. Kunka, J. Kenntner, J. Leuthold, J. Meiser, J. Schulz and M. Walter, International Workshop on X-Ray and Neutron Phase Imaging with Gratings, Tokyo, Japan, 2012; [2] - Extensively long high aspect ratio gold analyzer gratings: A. E., Hollowell, C. L. Arrington, J. J. Coleman, P. S. Finnegan, A. M. Rowen, and A. L. Dagel, X-ray and Neutron Phase Imaging with Gratings, Bethesda, MD, 2015 [3] – Double Sided Grating Fabrication for High Energy X-Ray Phase Contrast Imaging: A. E. Hollowell, C. L. Arrington, P. Finnegan, K. Musick, P. Resnick, S. Volk, and A. L. Dagel, Material Science in Semiconductor Processing, 2018, under review. Figure 1

Honeycomb Support Structures to Stabilize PMMA Mold during LIGA Processing of High Aspect Ratio Gratings for XPCI Systems

X-ray phase contrast imaging (XPCI) allows for medical and non-destructive testing of soft tissue [1]. High aspect ratio (HAR) gratings (100:1) are difficult to achieve and are a key element of XPCI gold gratings PMMA lithography, molding, and electroforming (LIGA) process [2]. Development of uniform, continuous HAR gold gratings over a large area is difficult as they easily tilt and delaminate. One technique for stabilizing the mold during development is to incorporate relief structures into mold, providing more surface area at the bottom, which results in segmented gratings [2]. In the current work, honeycomb supports are used to stabilize the PMMA mold during development and plating to realize continuous gratings centimeters in lateral length. Our goal is to fabricate micron size HAR gratings ~10 cm in lateral length that are ideal for XPCI applications enabling larger field of view for the XPCI imaging. Honeycomb structures were patterned on a 100 mm substrate. A sheet of PMMA is then bonded and fly cut to desired height. An x-ray exposure then patterns the PMMA mold prior to the fabrication of the top honeycomb structure. The gratings are then developed and electroplated having structural support on both sides. The use of bottom and top honeycomb arrays provide unique mechanical support to the fragile PMMA mold during development and electroplating of the HAR grating. Momose, A. and W. Yashiro, X-ray Phase Measurements with Talbot Interferometry and Its Applications. International Conference on Advanced Phase Measurement Methods in Optics an Imaging, 2010. 1236: p. 195-199. Mohr, J., et al., High Aspect Ratio Gratings for X-Ray Phase Contrast Imaging. International Workshop on X-Ray and Neutron Phase Imaging with Gratings, 2012. 1466: p. 41-50. Sandia National Laboratories is a multimission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC., a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International, Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA-0003525. The views expressed in the article do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Department of Energy or the United States Government. Figure 1: Schematic of mold stabilization design (left), honeycomb pattern (right) Figure 1

High aspect ratio anisotropic silicon etching for x-ray phase contrast imaging grating fabrication

Lab based x-ray phase contrast imaging (XPCI) systems have historically focused on medical applications, but there is growing interest in material science applications for non-destructive analysis of low density materials. Extending this imaging technique to higher density materials or larger samples requires higher aspect ratio gratings, to allow the use of a higher energy x-ray source. In this work, we demonstrate the use of anisotropic silicon (Si) etching in potassium hydroxide (KOH), to achieve extremely high aspect ratio gratings. This method has been shown to be effective in fabricating deep, uniform gratings by taking advantage of the etch selectivity of differing crystalline planes of silicon. Our work has demonstrated a method for determining Si crystalline plane directions, specific to (110) Si wafers, enabling high alignment accuracy of the etch mask to these crystalline planes.

Double sided grating fabrication for high energy X-ray phase contrast imaging

State of the art grating fabrication currently limits the maximum source energy that can be used in lab based x-ray phase contrast imaging (XPCI) systems. In order to move to higher source energies, and image high density materials or image through encapsulating barriers, new grating fabrication methods are needed. In this work we have analyzed a new modality for grating fabrication that involves precision alignment of etched gratings on both sides of a substrate, effectively doubling the thickness of the grating. We have achieved a front-to-backside feature alignment accuracy of 0.5 µm demonstrating a methodology that can be applied to any grating fabrication approach extending the attainable aspect ratios allowing higher energy lab based XPCI systems.

Photon detection efficiency of laboratory-based x-ray phase contrast imaging techniques for mammography: a Monte Carlo study

An important challenge in real-world biomedical applications of x-ray phase contrast imaging (XPCI) techniques is the efficient use of the photon flux generated by an incoherent and polychromatic x-ray source. This efficiency can directly influence dose and exposure time and ideally should not affect the superior contrast and sensitivity of XPCI. In this paper, we present a quantitative evaluation of the photon detection efficiency of two laboratory-based XPCI methods, grating interferometry (GI) and coded-aperture (CA). We adopt a Monte Carlo approach to simulate existing prototypes of those systems, tailored for mammography applications. Our simulations were validated by means of a simple experiment performed on a CA XPCI system. Our results show that the fraction of detected photons in the standard energy range of mammography are about 1.4% and 10% for the GI and CA techniques, respectively. The simulations indicate that the design of the optical components plays an important role in the higher efficiency of CA compared to the GI method. It is shown that the use of lower absorbing materials as the substrates for GI gratings can improve its flux efficiency by up to four times. Along similar lines, we also show that an optimized and compact configuration of GI could lead to a 3.5 times higher fraction of detected counts compared to a standard and non-optimised GI implementation.

Hybrid framework for feasible modeling of an edge illumination X-ray phase-contrast imaging system at a human scale

Here, we present a hybrid approach for simulating an edge illumination X-ray phase-contrast imaging (EIXPCi) set-up using graphics processor units (GPU) with a high degree of accuracy. In this study, the applicability of pixel, mesh and non-uniform rational B-splines (NURBS) objects to carry out realistic maps of X-ray phase-contrast distribution at a human scale is accounted for by using numerical anthropomorphic phantoms and a very fast and robust simulation framework which integrates total interaction probabilities along selected X-ray paths. We exploit the mathematical and algorithmic properties of NURBS and describe how to represent human scale phantoms in an edge illumination X-ray phase-contrast model. The presented implementation allows the modeling of a variety of physical interactions of x-rays with different mathematically described objects and the recording of quantities, e.g. path integrals, interaction sites and deposited energies. Furthermore, our efficient, scalable and optimized hybrid Monte Carlo and ray-tracing projector can be used in iterative reconstruction algorithms on multi GPU heterogeneous systems. The preliminary results of our innovative approach show the fine performance of an edge illumination X-ray phase-contrast medical imaging system on various human-like soft tissues with noticeably reduced computation time. Our approach to the EIXPCi modeling confirms that building a true imaging system at a human scale should be possible and the simulations presented here aim at its future development.