Current status of microtomography with synchrotron radiation x-ray source

Computer tomography is a method for reconstructing three-dimensional structure from a series of projection images. By using high brilliance synchrotron radiation X-ray sources and modern X-ray optical systems, high-resolution X-ray tomographic imaging with spatial resolution of micrometer-nanometer has been developed and is currently open to public user experiments. The applications of synchrotron radiation microtomography are spread in various field of science and engineering. In this review article, present status of high-resolution tomography at the Synchrotron Radiation Facility SPring-8 is described. Theoretical limitation of spatial resolution by diffraction of X-rays, and high-resolution tomography with X-ray imaging microscope are also shown. (author)