Tutorials on X-ray Phase Contrast Imaging: Some Fundamentals and Some Conjectures on Future Developments

These tutorials introduce some basics of imaging with coherent X-rays, focusing on phase contrast. We consider the transport-of-intensity equation, as one particular method for X-ray phase contrast imaging among many, before passing on to the inverse problem of phase retrieval. These ideas are applied to two-dimensional and three-dimensional propagation-based phase-contrast imaging using coherent X-rays. We then consider the role of partial coherence, and sketch a generic means by which partially coherent X-ray imaging scenarios may be modelled, using the space-frequency description of partial coherence. Besides covering fundamental concepts in both theory and practice, we also give opinions on future trends in X-ray phase contrast imaging including X-ray tomography, and comparison of different phase contrast imaging methods. These tutorials will be accessible to those with a basic background in optics (e.g. wave equation, Maxwell equations, Fresnel and Fraunhofer diffraction, and the basics of Fourier and vector analysis) and interactions of X-rays with matter (e.g. attenuation mechanisms and complex refractive index).