Focus detector arrangement and method for generating contrast x-ray images

1. A focus detector arrangement for an x-ray apparatus for generating projection or tomographic phase contrast exposures of an examination subject, comprising:

a radiation source located at a first side of the examination subject, that generates a beam of coherent x-ray radiation with a grid-like origin;

a phase grid located in a path of said beam at an opposite, second side of the examination subject, said phase grid comprising spaced-apart grid lines that diffract adjacent coherent rays in said beam to generate an interference pattern of the x-ray radiation in a predetermined energy range of the x-ray radiation dependent on a phase shift of the x-ray beam produced by tissue of the examination subject;

an analysis-detector system that detects at least said interference pattern generated by said phase grid relative to a local intensity distribution thereof, to determine a local phase shift; and

said radiation source comprising an anode from which said beam of coherent x-ray radiation with a grid-like origin is emitted, said anode comprising regions with respectively different radiation emission characteristics proceeding in spaced-apart bands that are parallel to the grid lines of the phase grid.

2. A focus detector arrangement as claimed in claim 1 wherein said x-ray source comprises an electron beam emitter that emits an electron beam onto a focal spot of the anode, from which said x-ray radiation is emitted, and wherein said bands at said anode are located in said focal spot, said anode being comprised of anode base material and said bands being comprised of a material different from said anode base material.

3. A focus detector arrangement as claimed in claim 2 comprising a displacement unit configured to interact with the anode to shift the anode perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of said bands.

4. A focus detector arrangement as claimed in claim 2 comprising a displacement unit that interacts with said bands to shift said band perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of the bands.

5. A focus detector arrangement as claimed in claim 1 wherein said x-ray source comprises a cathode that emits an electron beam that strikes the anode at a focal spot from which said beam of coherent x-ray radiation with a grid-like origin is emitted, and an electron mask between the cathode and the anode having band-like apertures through which said electron beam passes to produce said bands on said anode in said focal spot.

6. A focus detector arrangement as claimed in claim 5 wherein said x-ray source comprises at least one opto-electronic lens located in a path of said electron beam at a location selected from the group consisting of between said electron mask and said anode and between said cathode and said electron mask, said at least one opto-electronic lens being a lens selected from the group consisting of magnetic field lenses and electrical field lenses.

7. A focus detector arrangement as claimed in claim 6 comprising an adjustment unit configured to interact with said at least one opto-electronic lens to cause a shift of the bands produced by said electron mask in said focal spot perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of the bands.

8. A focus detector arrangement as claimed in claim 5 comprising a displacement unit configured to interact with said electron mask to shift said electron mask perpendicularly to a longitudinal direction of said bands.

9. A focus detector arrangement as claimed in claim 1 wherein said x-ray source comprises an electron source that emits an electron beam that strikes said anode at a focal spot, and wherein said anode comprises a plurality of adjacent, alternating lands and grooves forming said bands, located in said focal spot.

10. A focus detector arrangement as claimed in claim 9 wherein said lands and grooves exhibit a surface profile at a surface of the anode at which said focal spot is located, said surface profile being selected from the group consisting of sinusoidal profiles, sawtooth profiles, trapezoidal profiles, and rectangular profiles.

11. A focus detector arrangement as claimed in claim 1 wherein said anode is rotatably mounted in said x-ray source, forming a rotary anode.

12. A focus detector arrangement as claimed in claim 11 wherein said rotary anode rotates in a rotation direction, and wherein said bands are aligned relative to said rotation direction.

13. A focus detector arrangement as claimed in claim 12 wherein said rotary anode comprises an envelope surface on which said bands are located, said envelope surface being selected from the group consisting of a conical envelope surface and a cylindrical envelope surface.

14. A focus detector arrangement as claimed in claim 12 wherein said bands are aligned relative to said rotation direction so as to exhibit a directional component that is axial to a rotation axis of the rotary anode, and wherein said x-ray source is an x-ray tube operated with a tube current, and comprising a control unit that generates and controls a stroboscopic pulsation of said tube current.

15. A focus detector arrangement as claimed in claim 14 wherein said control unit is configured to match a frequency and phase of the pulsation of the tube current to a rotation speed of the rotary anode to maintain a substantially constant position of said bands coinciding with a maximum of said tube current.

16. A focus detector arrangement as claimed in claim 14 wherein said control unit is configured to match a frequency and phase of said pulsation of the tube current to a rotation speed of said rotary anode to cause a position of said bands coinciding with a maximum of said tube current to migrate in steps in said rotation direction, for measurement of said phase shift with a stationary phase grid and a stationary analysis grid.

17. A focus detector arrangement as claimed in claim 1 wherein said anode is rotatably mounted in said x-ray source, forming a rotary anode, and wherein said bands are at a non-zero angle relative to a radial direction of said rotary anode.

18. A focus detector arrangement as claimed in claim 1 wherein said x-ray source is an x-ray tube comprising an electron source that emits an electron beam that strikes said anode to cause said anode to emit said x-ray radiation with a grid-like origin, and a deflection unit located in a path of said electron beam configured to interact with the electron beam to cause the electron beam to move along at least one imaginary grid line on a surface of said anode.

19. A focus detector arrangement as claimed in claim 18 wherein said deflection unit is configured to cause said electron beam to move along multiple imaginary grid lines on said surface of said anode, by jumping from grid line-to-gridline.

20. A focus detector arrangement as claimed in claim 19 wherein said control unit is configured to move said electron beam along multiple grid lines with respective spacings therebetween that are integer multiples of a basic spacings.

21. A focus detector arrangement as claimed in claim 18 wherein said anode is rotatably mounted in said x-ray source, forming a rotary anode.

22. A focus detector arrangement as claimed in claim 21 wherein said deflection unit is configured to cause said electron beam to move along multiple imaginary grid lines on said surface of said anode, by jumping from grid line-to-grid line, and wherein said rotary anode has a conical anode surface on which said electron beam is moved along said multiple grid lines, with said grid lines oriented in an alignment relative to a rotation axis of the rotary anode selected from the group consisting of radial alignment and tangential alignment.

23. A focus detector arrangement as claimed in claim 21 wherein said deflection unit is configured to cause said electron beam to move along multiple imaginary grid lines on said surface of said anode, by jumping from grid line-to-grid line, and wherein said rotary anode has a cylindrical anode surface on which said electron beam is moved along said multiple grid lines, with said grid lines being oriented on said cylindrical surface in an alignment relative to a rotation axis of the rotary anode, selected from the group consisting of parallel to the rotation axis and perpendicular to the rotation axis.

24. A focus detector arrangement as claimed in claim 21 wherein said deflection unit is configured to cause said electron beam to move along multiple imaginary grid lines on said surface of said anode, by jumping from grid line-to-grid line, parallel with said grid lines being aligned at a non-zero angle relative to a rotation axis of the rotary anode and relative to a radial direction of the rotary anode.

25. A focus detector arrangement as claimed in claim 21 wherein said deflection unit is configured to cause said electron beam to move along multiple imaginary grid lines on said surface of said anode, by jumping from grid line-to-grid line and wherein said analysis-detector system detects said interference pattern with a scan period, and wherein said deflection unit deflects said electron beam over all of said multiple grid lines with a scan period that is less than half of said scan period of said analysis-detector system.

26. A focus detector arrangement as claimed in claim 25 wherein said scan period of said electron beam is less than one-tenth of said scan period of said analysis-detector system.

27. A focus detector arrangement as claimed in claim 18 wherein said deflection unit is configured to cause said electron beam to move along multiple imaginary grid lines on said surface of said anode, by jumping from grid line-to-grid line, and wherein said deflection unit is configured to move said electron beam along said multiple grid lines to simulate movement of a source grid to determine said phase shift.

28. An x-ray system comprising:

a radiation source located at a first side of an examination subject, that generates a beam of coherent x-ray radiation with a grid-like origin;

a phase grid located in a path of said beam at an opposite, second side of the examination subject, said phase grid comprising spaced-apart grid lines that diffract adjacent coherent rays in said beam to generate an interference pattern of the x-ray radiation in a predetermined energy range of the x-ray radiation dependent on a phase shift of the x-ray beam produced by tissue of the examination subject;

an analysis-detector system that detects at least said interference pattern generated by said phase grid relative to a local intensity distribution thereof, to determine a local phase shift;

said radiation source comprising an anode from which said beam of coherent x-ray radiation with a grid-like origin is emitted, said anode comprising regions with respectively different radiation emission characteristics proceeding in spaced-apart bands that are parallel to the grid lines of the phase grid;

a radiation detector that detects said x-ray radiation after attenuation thereof by said examination subject, said radiation detector emitting detector output signals representing said attenuation; and

an image reconstruction computer supplied with said detector output signals, configured to reconstruct a projection phase-contrast image of the examination subject therefrom.

29. An x-ray computed tomography system comprising:

a radiation source located at a first side of an examination subject, that generates a beam of coherent x-ray radiation with a grid-like origin;

a phase grid located in a path of said beam at an opposite, second side of the examination subject, said phase grid comprising spaced-apart grid lines that diffract adjacent coherent rays in said beam to generate an interference pattern of the x-ray radiation in a predetermined energy range of the x-ray radiation dependent on a phase shift of the x-ray beam produced by tissue of the examination subject;

an analysis-detector system that detects at least said interference pattern generated by said phase grid relative to a local intensity distribution thereof, to determine a local phase shift;

said radiation source comprising an anode from which said beam of coherent x-ray radiation with a grid-like origin is emitted, said anode comprising regions with respectively different radiation emission characteristics proceeding in spaced-apart bands that are parallel to the grid lines of the phase grid;

a radiation detector that detects said x-ray radiation after attenuation thereof by said examination subject, said radiation detector emitting detector output signals representing said attenuation;

a rotation unit selected from the group consisting of a C-arm and a gantry, at which said x-ray source and said radiation detector are mounted, that rotates said x-ray source and said radiation detector around the examination subject while irradiating the examination subject with said x-ray radiation and while detecting attenuation of the x-ray radiation by said subject with said radiation detector; and

an image computer supplied with said detector output signals configured to reconstruct an image of the examination subject therefrom, selected from the group consisting of projection phase-contrast images and tomographic phase contrast images.

30. A method for generating projection or tomographic phase contrast exposures of an examination subject using an x-ray apparatus, comprising the steps of:

emitting a beam of coherent x-ray radiation with a grid-like origin from an anode in a radiation source and irradiating a subject with said x-ray radiation from a first side of the examination subject;

generating an interference pattern with a phase grid located in a path of said beam at an opposite, second side of the examination subject, said phase grid comprising spaced-apart grid lines that diffract adjacent coherent rays in said beam to generate said interference pattern of the x-ray radiation in a predetermined energy range of the x-ray radiation dependent on a phase shift of the x-ray beam produced by tissue of the examination subject;

automatically detecting at least said interference pattern generated by said phase grid relative to a local intensity distribution thereof, to determine a local phase shift; and

emitting said beam of coherent x-ray radiation with a grid-like origin from said anode by producing regions on said anode with respectively different radiation emission characteristics proceeding in spaced-apart bands that are parallel to the grid lines of the phase grid.

31. A method as claimed in claim 30 wherein said x-ray source comprises an electron beam emitter that emits an electron beam onto a focal spot of the anode, from which said x-ray radiation is emitted, and wherein said bands at said anode are located in said focal spot, said anode being comprised of anode base material and comprising producing said bands as bands on said anode comprised of a material different from said anode base material.

32. A method as claimed in claim 30 wherein said x-ray source comprises an electron source that emits an electron beam that strikes said anode at a focal spot, and comprising producing said bands as a plurality of adjacent, alternating lands and grooves located in said focal spot.

33. A method as claimed in claim 30 comprising rotatably mounting said anode in said x-ray source, forming a rotary anode.

34. A method as claimed in claim 33 wherein said x-ray source is an x-ray tube and comprising operating said x-ray tube with a tube current, and generating a stroboscopic pulsation of said tube current.

35. A method as claimed in claim 34 comprising matching a frequency and phase of the pulsation of the tube current to a rotation speed of the rotary anode to maintain a substantially constant position of said bands coinciding with a maximum of said tube current.

36. A method as claimed in claim 34 comprising matching a frequency and phase of said pulsation of the tube current to a rotation speed of said rotary anode to cause a position of said bands coinciding with a maximum of said tube current to migrate in steps in a rotation direction of said rotary anode, for measurement of said phase shift with a stationary phase grid and a stationary analysis grid.

37. A method as claimed in claim 30 wherein said x-ray source is an x-ray tube, and comprising emitting an electron beam onto said anode to cause said anode to emit said x-ray radiation with a grid-like origin, and producing said regions on said anode with respectively different radiation emission characteristics by deflecting said electron beam to cause said electron beam to move along at least one imaginary grid line on a surface of said anode.

38. A method as claimed in claim 37 comprising deflecting said electron beam to move along multiple imaginary grid lines on said surface of said anode, by jumping from grid line-to-grid line.

39. A method as claimed in claim 38 comprising deflecting said electron beam to move said electron beam along said multiple grid lines to simulate movement of a source grid to determine said phase shift.