Principles of X-ray computed tomography

In this chapter, the physical and mathematical principles of X-ray computed tomography are summarised. First, the fundamentals of X-ray physics are covered, with details on generation, propagation and attenuation of X-rays, including a brief introduction to phase-contrast and dark-field imaging. Then, the basics of detection, digitisation and processing of X-ray images are discussed. Finally, the chapter focuses on the fundamentals of tomographic reconstruction and introduces the main reconstruction algorithms.