The current approach to differential phase contrast (DPC) is to use gratings in front of conventional X-ray sources. The gratings are very difficult to fabricate for energies higher than 50 KeV, and absorb a considerable amount of X-ray radiation, thereby reducing the achievable SNR.
What is needed is a device that includes a patterned source so that the grating is not needed, and that creates a coherent source enabling interferometric, time resolved measurements such as shadowgraph or Schlieren measurements of objects. Time resolved measurements using X-rays are difficult to make with current X-ray sources, as switching high voltages rapidly, on the order of picoseconds, is very difficult.