Signal-to-noise ratio analysis of X-ray grating interferometry with the reverse projection extraction method

In the past decade, grating-based X-ray phase contrast imaging has attracted increasing attention. Particular efforts have been devoted to develop new information extraction method for its forthcoming practical applications. Here we discuss the noise properties of a new acquisition protocol, dubbed the “reverse projection” (RP) method, using the error propagation formula. We present a quantitative analysis of the signal-to-noise ratio of X-ray grating interferometry with this new method. As the major sources of noise, the contributions from photon statistics and mechanical errors are discussed in detail. The results show how the system parameters impact on the extracted absorption and refraction images and how they can be used to optimize the system design for foreseen practical applications, such as biomedical imaging and materials science.