Please join the Centre for Bioengineering and Biotechnology (CBB) and the Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology (WIN) on Tuesday January 22, 2019 for a guest lecture by Dr. Alessandro Olivo, Professor of Applied Physics with the Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering at University College London (UCL) speaking on “Origins, state-of-the-art and application perspectives of incoherent x-ray phase contrast imaging methods” [Poster ]
Abstract
X-ray phase contrast imaging (XPCI) has been one of the hot topics in x-ray research over the last two decades, because of its potential to revolutionize applications of x-rays in medicine and beyond. However, translation into everyday use in hospitals and other “real-world” environments has proven difficult. One possible reason for this is the fact that all XPCI methods proposed so far have been based on coherent approaches, which typically leads to flux limitations when implementations outside specialized facilities such as synchrotrons are pursued.
This talk will focus on an alternative approach based on incoherent sample illumination. This was obtained through an adaptation to polychromatic and divergent x-ray beams (via apertured masks) of the “edge-illumination” principle, developed at the Elettra Synchrotron in Italy in the late ‘90s. The talk will introduce the method, and explain how it allows achieving phase sensitivities comparable to that of coherent approaches while using unfiltered and uncollimated focal spots of up to 100 micron in size. The method’s flexibility, leading to easy adaptation to e.g. tomosynthesis, microscopy and micro-CT, will be discussed, alongside its extension to “dark-field” (sometimes referred to as “ultra-small angle scattering”) approaches. Finally, a series of applications to medicine and other fields will be discussed, with particular focus on the prototyping activities currently underway in collaboration with various companies.
Bio
Ale
ssandro
(“Sandro”)
Olivo is
Professor
of
Applied
Physics
with
the
Department
of
Medical
Physics
and
Biomedical
Engineering
at
University
College
London
(UCL),
and
the
spokesperson
of
the
Advanced
X-Ray
Imaging
(AXIm)
Group
(https://www.ucl.ac.uk/medphys/research/axim).
He
graduated
summa
cum
laude
from
the
University
of
Trieste
in
1995,
did
a
PhD
at
the
same
university
after
a
short
stint
as
a
hospital
physicist,
and
moved
to
UCL
in
2005
thanks
to
a
EU-funded
Marie
Curie
Fellowship.
Here
he
started
to
focus
on
the
translation
of
advanced
synchrotron
methods
into
standard
lab
settings,
and
set
up
a
dedicated
group
thanks
to
two
additional
individual
fellowships
and
a
number
of
research
grants
awarded
by
public
bodies,
charities
and
industry.
Overall
he
has
worked
in
x-ray
imaging
for
over
20
years,
and
is
considered
a
pioneer
in
the
field
of
X-ray
phase
contrast
imaging,
having
co-designed
the
in
vivo
mammography
system
operational
at
the
Trieste
synchrotron
and
invented
the
“edge-illumination”
and
“coded-aperture”
methods.
He
has
been
awarded
>£12M
in
research
funding,
published
>200
papers,
and
given
>100
conference
talks/seminars,
68
of
which
were
invited.
Articles
on
his
work
appeared,
among
others,
in
Nature,
Scientific
American,
Physics
Today,
Physics
World.
Coffee & Treats available - RSVP via Eventbrite is required