Refraction-based tomosynthesis: Proof of the concept

Tomosynthesis is a well known technique for imaging a plane in a target by blurring other planes in the target. Commonly, the tomosynthesis is based on the x-ray absorption contrast. Recently, methods for generating other x-ray contrasts were developed. One of them, the so-called refraction contrast, is extremely sensitive to soft tissues and small defects. It was used as the base for the computed tomography. However, a very promising application of this contrast in the tomosynthesis remains undeveloped. This letter is dedicated to this problem. It includes both theoretical background and experimental implementation of the idea. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.