Modulation-based phase-contrast and hyperspectral imaging with MÖNCH: a super-resolution direct-conversion hybrid detector

Abstract We present an experimental implementation of modulation-based phase-contrast imaging combined with a charge-integrating hybrid pixel detector (MÖNCH), enabling the simultaneous use of hyperspectral and super-resolution capabilities within a single acquisition. Photon clustering is used to interpolate the native 25 µm pixel pitch to 5 µm. We investigate the impact of super-resolution on beam-tracking retrieval, showing improved beamlet visibility and a reduction of image noise of up to 44% in the refraction channel. In parallel, after energy calibration validation based on acquisition of absorption spectra through known targets, energy-resolved transmission images acquired in 1 keV bins are used for basis-material decomposition, enabling the separation of water, molybdenum, and silver components in a stained bamboo sample. These results demonstrate the simultaneous retrieval of attenuation, refraction, scattering, and material-specific information, yielding up to six complementary contrast channels from a single dataset.