Unambiguous reconstruction of the complex amplitude reflection coefficient of a laterally homogeneous crystal using analyser-based phase-contrast imaging

A theoretical approach is developed to invert analytically a hard X-ray analyser-based phase-contrast image of a known weak object to recover the complex amplitude reflection coefficient (ARC) of a laterally homogeneous crystal. Numerical simulations test the method to recover the ARC from two systems of interest: a thick perfect crystal and a linearly strained thin film. For the latter model, a kinematical diffraction approximation was used to recover the one-dimensional deformation profile from the ARC.