Zeiss launches OptiRecon tomographic imaging module

Zeiss recently announced that it has launched a new module for its Xradia Versa 500-series of 3D X-ray microscopes called the OptiRecon that gives users higher quality images in a quarter of the time it usually takes.

The OptiRecon uses an advanced iterative reconstruction technique that gives users the same quality images four times faster, or better quality in the same amount of time as the standard image acquisition. Compared to other offerings, Zeiss says the OptiRecon is faster, more efficient and more user-friendly.

Other image reconstruction techniques typically need a complex cluster configuration to meet computational demands of iterative reconstruction. They also need extensive user expertise. Zeiss’s OptiRecon is a hardware/software module that is built on a single advanced workstation. It has a combination of workflow-based user interface that doesn’t require tomographic reconstruction algorithm knowledge. It also has an efficient implementation that reconstructs a typical dataset in approximately three minutes.

OptiRecon’s technology brings more opportunities for 3D X-ray imaging or computer tomography.

“Iterative reconstruction is a key new technology for improving our work in high resolution X-ray microscopy,” said Branko Bijeljic, a co-author on a study of the optimization of the technology. “It will allow us to address in situ processes occurring at considerably shorter time scales without sacrificing image quality or data segmentability.”

The system is available to existing users as a field upgrade or as an additional capability to the Zeiss Xradia 510/520 Versa 3D X-ray microscopes.