Machine learning denoising of high-resolution X-ray nanotomography data

Abstract

High-resolution X-ray nanotomography is a quantitative tool for investigating specimens from a wide range of research areas. However, the quality of the reconstructed tomogram is often obscured by noise and therefore not suitable for automatic segmentation. Filtering methods are often required for a detailed quantitative analysis. However, most filters induce blurring in the reconstructed tomograms. Here, machine learning (ML) techniques offer a powerful alternative to conventional filtering methods. In this article, we verify that a self-supervised denoising ML technique can be used in a very efficient way for eliminating noise from nanotomography data. The technique presented is applied to high-resolution nanotomography data and compared to conventional filters, such as a median filter and a nonlocal means filter, optimized for tomographic data sets. The ML approach proves to be a very powerful tool that outperforms conventional filters by eliminating noise without blurring relevant structural features, thus enabling efficient quantitative analysis in different scientific fields.

Silja Flenner et al., Machine learning denoising of high-resolution X-ray nanotomography data, J Synchrotron Radiat