Imagine a camera so powerful it destroys whatever it photographs. That is the reality of studying diseases at the microscopic level: the intense X-ray radiation needed for detailed 3D images damages the very tissue researchers are trying to understand. Most biological samples must be chemically preserved to survive the scan, which means that scientists often do not see tissue as it exists in the body.

The coauthors of a new study published in Optica include members of the research group Biomedical Imaging Physics (Prof. Julia Herzen) at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) School of Natural Sciences, working in close collaboration with the research groups of Prof. Tim Salditt at the University of Göttingen and Prof. Marina Eckermann at the Universität Bern. Together, the teams have developed a new setup that extracts almost every bit of information out of the X-ray beam: nearly every light particle is captured, and the optical contrast is pushed close to its physical limit. This means the same image quality can be achieved at a fraction of the dose, with three complementary types of information in a single scan. The result is a high-resolution imaging method gentle enough to study delicate biological tissue without chemical preservation.

According to first author, doctoral student Dominik John, “This is an important step toward imaging biological specimens closer to their natural state, which could meaningfully change how disease mechanisms are studied and diagnostic approaches are developed.”

According to the TUM research team, which collaborates with researchers at Helmholtz Center Hereon and colleagues elsewhere in Germany, Italy, and Switzerland, the technique’s improved efficiency could accelerate progress in several fields. In medicine, it may support earlier detection of microstructural changes in tissue, while in industrial settings, it promises more accurate inspection of components where even microscopic defects can have critical consequences. 

This breakthrough underscores the rapid evolution of X‑ray phase imaging and highlights the growing importance of high‑efficiency tomographic tools in both scientific discovery and real‑world applications. Prof. Herzen emphasizes that the work represents “an important step toward making advanced 3D imaging faster, more accessible, and more reliable.”

Publication

Dominik John, Gregor Breitenhuber, Sami Wirtensohn, Franziska Hinterdobler, Luka Gaetani, Sara Savatović, Jens Lucht, Markus Osterhoff, Marina Eckermann, Tim Salditt, and Julia Herzen. Near-perfect efficiency in X‑ray phase microtomography. Optica. doi: 10.1364/OPTICA.584432 

Funding

ERC Consolidator Grant (DEPICT, PE3, 101125761), EIC Pathfinder (1MICRON, 101186826)

More information and links 

• Salditt Group, University of Göttingen: http://www.roentgen.physik.uni-goettingen.de
• Eckermann Group, Universität Bern: https://www.iap.unibe.ch/research/biomedical_photonics/biomedical_x_ray_physics/index_eng.html
• Helmholtz Center Hereon https://www.hereon.de/index.php.en
• DESY Research Centre http://desy.de/index_eng.html
• Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom https://www.freiheit.org/
• German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) https://www.bmftr.bund.de/EN/Home/home_node.html  

Contact about the article 
Prof. Julia Herzen
Technical University of Munich
TUM School of Natural Sciences
Professor for Biomedical Imaging Physics
julia.herzen@tum.de
 
 

Press contact 

communications@nat.tum.de 
Team website