A general concept is presented for increasing the in-slice spatial resolution in computed tomography in a flexible manner and with relatively large source focal spots and detector pixels. The flexibility is a result of probing the sample with an array of thin beamlets shaped by a mask. Provided that the mask apertures are smaller than the combined blur of the x-ray source and detector and that no significant overlap between beamlets occurs, this introduces higher spatial frequencies into the image-formation process. The application of a cycloidal acquisition scheme, by which the sample is simultaneously rotated and translated, facilitates an efficient exploitation of these frequencies and their reconstruction into high-resolution tomographic images. Additionally, a preliminary study of the signal-to-noise ratio versus the delivered dose reveals significant dose-saving potential.

• Received 31 July 2019
• Revised 16 June 2020
• Accepted 19 June 2020
• Corrected 20 October 2020

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.14.014069

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Published by the American Physical Society