Analyzer-based X-ray phase contrast imaging (ABI) belongs to a broader family of phase-contrast (PC) X-ray imaging
modalities. Unlike the conventional X-ray radiography, which measures only X-ray absorption, in PC imaging one can
also measures the X-rays deflection induced by the object refractive properties. It has been shown that refraction
imaging provides better contrast when imaging the soft tissue, which is of great interest in medical imaging applications.
In this paper, we introduce a simulation tool specifically designed to simulate the analyzer-based X-ray phase contrast
imaging system with a conventional polychromatic X-ray source. By utilizing ray tracing and basic physical principles
of diffraction theory our simulation tool can predicting the X-ray beam profile shape, the energy content, the total
throughput (photon count) at the detector. In addition we can evaluate imaging system point-spread function for various
system configurations.
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