Quick X-ray microtomography using a laser-driven betatron source

Laser-driven X-raysources are an emerging alternative to conventional X-ray tubesand synchrotronsources. We present results on microtomographic X-rayimaging of a cancellous human bone sample using synchrotron-like betatronradiation. The source is driven by a 100-TW-class titanium-sapphire laser system and delivers over $10^8$ X-rayphotons per second. Compared to earlier studies, the acquisition time for an entire tomographic dataset has been reduced by more than an order of magnitude. Additionally, the reconstruction quality benefits from the use of statistical iterative reconstructiontechniques. Depending on the desired resolution, tomographies are thereby acquired within minutes, which is an important milestone towards real-life applications of laser-plasma X-raysources.