Demonstrating a family of X-ray dark-field retrieval approaches on a common set of samples

Sensitive to scattering from unresolved sample structures, the dark-field channel in full-field X-ray imaging provides complementary information to that offered by conventional attenuation and phase-contrast methods. A range of experimental dark-field techniques and retrieval algorithms have been recently developed to extract this signal by directly resolving dark-field-associated local image blurring with a high-resolution camera. While the underlying physical mechanism that generates dark-field contrast is generally defined similarly across the methods, no comparison of these dark-field techniques using identical samples has been conducted. In this paper, dark-field imaging data from two samples were acquired using three emerging dark-field setups at a synchrotron: propagation-based, single-grid, and speckle-based X-ray imaging. Dark-field images were then reconstructed using a variety of retrieval algorithms--some requiring only a single sample exposure, others multiple; some performing local, pixel-wise analysis, and others operating globally on entire images. We find that the dominant contribution to dark-field contrast--arising from diffuse scattering from unresolved microstructures or multiple refractions through larger, potentially resolved structures--is consistently recovered across all approaches, demonstrating mutual agreement. However, some differences emerge for structures that are spatially varying. We attribute these differences to the idea that each technique has a different internal ruler, a sensitivity scale for dark-field retrieval influenced by both the experimental design and algorithmic assumptions of the technique. This study is intended to guide dark-field imaging users in selecting the most appropriate technique for their imaging goals and to motivate future research into dark-field sensitivity and sources of dark-field contrast across different methods.