Toward XRF-like chemical sensitivity in the laboratory: first hyperspectral x-ray imaging demonstration using the novel CITIUS detector

Fe source, a sharp energy resolution in the 0.5-0.8 keV range (full width at half maximum) was found, enabling fine energy binning suitable for advanced quantitative material identification. For the first demonstration, planar and tomographic datasets of two multi-material test samples were analyzed using a newly adapted version of the Minimum-Residual Basis Material Decomposition (MR-BMD) algorithm, optimized for hyperspectral detectors providing tens of energy bins with narrow bandwidths. Results show that the laboratory-based hyperspectral approach combined with MR-BMD enables element-sensitive imaging and, remarkably, separates materials with very similar attenuation, such as water and polypropylene. These results demonstrate accurate material identification and quantification, promisingly approaching XRF-like chemical sensitivity in the laboratory.