Solving barriers to time-resolved 3D x-ray imaging with a new data acquisition and processing paradigm

• Grant number: 24/08590-6
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: April 01, 2025
• End date: March 31, 2028
• Field of knowledge: Interdisciplinary Subjects
• Principal Investigator: Nathaly Lopes Archilha
• Grantee: Nathaly Lopes Archilha
• Principal researcher abroad: Matthieu Nicolaas J Boone
• Institution abroad: Ghent University (UGent), Belgium
• Host Institution: Centro Nacional de Pesquisa em Energia e Materiais (CNPEM). Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação (Brasil). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Eduardo Xavier Miqueles ; Jan Aelterman ; Tom Bultreys

Abstract

4D X-ray micro-computed tomography imaging (4D-¼CT) has quickly become established innumerous scientific disciplines as a driver of new insights for the study of dynamic µm-scaleprocesses. Groundbreaking insights often arise from the co-development of innovative dynamicscientific experimental setups that exploit the peculiarities of the (lab- or synchrotron-based) ¼CTsystem, their hardware and their reconstruction/analysis software. Unfortunately, conventionalparallel-beam geometries at synchrotron facilities are inefficient, placing a hardware limit onachievable spatio-temporal resolution. At the same time, the complexity of conventional frame-based4D reconstruction and analysis scales superlinearly with increasing resolution both in time and space,causing a software-imposed data bottleneck. To ensure that cutting-edge dynamic experimentalinsights can continue to improve, we propose a paradigm shift in the way we build ¼CT setups, dodynamic experimental design and reconstruct/analyse 4D data. This project will leverage the uniqueand complementary imaging development capabilities at the Sirius Synchrotron Light Source (Brazil)and the Ghent University Centre for X-ray Tomography (Belgium) to co-design new hardware andsoftware paradigms for dynamic 4D-¼CT, and to validate them on a use case regarding fluid transportduring hydrogen storage in porous rock formations (AU)