Tabletop X-ray ghost video of moving objects

Abstract: X-ray imaging is widely employed in clinical medicine, industrial inspection, and various scientific research fields. Unfortunately, most currently used X-ray two-dimensional (2D) detectors suffer from a fundamental trade-off between the number of pixels and readout time, making them unsuitable for fast moving objects imaging, as well as the readout dead time causes frame losses. X-ray ghost imaging (XGI) offers an alternative approach to image an object using only a highly sensitive single-pixel detector. However, a critical limitation of existing XGI methods is the excessive total acquisition time required, rendering it impractical for real applications. In this paper, we propose a rapid spatial modulation scheme based on random binary patterns encoded onto a fast-spinning mask. Clear X-ray visualization of moving objects is demonstrated with imaging rates up to 200 frames per second with a resolution of 225 um. For the first time, our method has greatly improved the XGI imaging speed and paves the way for X-ray imaging application of motion objects, such as the inspection of rotating aero-engines and in vivo medical imaging.