Construction of x-ray dark-field imaging with a view size of 80 mm square and first visualization of human articular cartilage of femoral head under a nearly clinical condition

Field size of 80 mm x 80 mm for X-ray dark-field (DFI) imaging at 35 keV using a 2.16-mm-thick 440 Laue diffraction analyzer has been achieved. Under this condition, only refracted X-rays from sample can transmit through this filter to form DFI while the beam that has not changed its direction is repelled to the diffraction direction. Its spatial resolution is 10 microns or better. An excised human femoral head in a water-filled vinyl bag simulating a clinical condition shows a high-contrast and high-spatial-resolution articular cartilage that has not been visualized by X-ray technique. (author)