A general image misalignment correction method for tomography experiments
Zhen Zhang,
Zheng Dong,
Hanfei Yan,
Ajith Pattammattel,
Xiaoxue Bi,
Yuhui Dong,
Gongfa Liu,
Xiaokang Sun,
Yi Zhang
Affiliations
Zhen Zhang
National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230029, People’s Republic of China
Zheng Dong
Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, Beijing 100049, People’s Republic of China
Hanfei Yan
National Synchrotron Light Source II, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973, USA
Ajith Pattammattel
National Synchrotron Light Source II, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973, USA
Xiaoxue Bi
Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, Beijing 100049, People’s Republic of China; Corresponding author
Yuhui Dong
Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, Beijing 100049, People’s Republic of China
Gongfa Liu
National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230029, People’s Republic of China
Xiaokang Sun
National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230029, People’s Republic of China; Corresponding author
Yi Zhang
Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, Beijing 100049, People’s Republic of China; Corresponding author
Summary: Tomography experiments generate three-dimensional (3D) reconstructed slices from a series of two-dimensional (2D) projection images. However, the mechanical system generates joint offsets that result in unaligned 2D projections. This misalignment affects the reconstructed images and reduces their actual spatial resolution. In this study, we present a novel method called outer contour-based misalignment correction (OCMC) for correcting image misalignments in tomography. We use the sample’s outer contour structure as auxiliary information to estimate the extent of misalignment in each image. This method is generic and can be used with various tomography imaging techniques. We validated our method with five datasets collected from different samples and across various tomography techniques. The OCMC method demonstrated significant advantages in terms alignment accuracy and time efficiency. As an end-to-end correction method, OCMC can be easily integrated into an online tomography data processing pipeline and facilitate feedback control in future synchrotron tomography experiments.
