A system inspects, modifies or analyzes a region of interest of a sample via charged particles. A detector device of the system produces a pixel image having horizontal and vertical pixel resolutions. A charged particle deflection device produces a scanning charged particle beam in a scanning region. The deflection device has horizontal and vertical deflection units controlled by a digital to analog converter having a digital resolution larger than the horizontal pixel resolution and/or the vertical pixel resolution. An operator control interface of the system selects an assignment between respective image pixels of a desired pixel image and digital inputs of the DAC to produce horizontal and/or vertical deflection signals to guide the charged particle beam to the location of the respective image pixel. A reliable image of a sample can be obtained even when there is zooming or panning within an accessible region of the sample.

A redundant positioning table device with six or fewer degrees of freedom having four modular legs extended from a base to a table, each legs being with three levels and the same types of joints. In one embodiment, the bottom joint is planar and active, the middle joint is prismatic and passive, and the top joint is spherical and passive. In another embodiment, the bottom joint is prismatic and passive, the middle joint is planar and active, and the top joint is spherical and passive. Fewer than six degrees of freedom is achieved by reducing the number of degrees of freedom of designated joints.

A diagnostic support for a skin includes a radio-transparent structure that defines a folding surface of the skin and on which the skin may be stretched and consequently folded, thereby defining folded, mutually superimposed portions spaced apart from each other. The support may be used for radiographic inspection of a folded animal skin.

Provided is a quantification method for evaluating the quality of a sample on the basis of a mirror electron image acquired by a mirror electron microscope. In this invention, a mirror electron image is expressed numerically through counting of the brightness values of each pixel composing the mirror electron image, the creation of a brightness histogram, and the calculation, from the distribution of the brightness histogram, of a standard deviation. If brightness contrast is formed on the mirror electron image by, for example, a scratch on or latent damage in a sample, because the brightness values of the pixels will fluctuate, there will be more variation in the brightness values than in an image obtained from a satisfactory sample with no defects, and this will result in the brightness values of the mirror electron image having a larger standard deviation. The standard deviation indicates the variation in the brightness calculated from the mirror electron image and essentially represents the degree of defect contrast in the sample. This value can be used as a basis for simply evaluating the quality of a sample while eliminating subjectivity and ambiguity.

A system and a method of measuring grain orientations of a metal component. The method includes defining a series of measurement locations on the metal component at which to take a series of measurements indicative of grain orientations at corresponding measurement locations. The method further includes defining a nominal grain orientation at each measurement location. The method further includes loading the measurement locations into a computer-controllable fixture suitable for positioning the metal component. The method further includes locating the metal component in the computer-controllable fixture. The method further includes taking the series of measurements at the series of measurement locations. The method further includes analysing the measurement at each measurement location relative to the nominal grain orientation at the corresponding measurement location.

The disclosed embodiments include a rock sample inspection method. The method may include preparing a sample of formation rock by encapsulating the sample, inserting the sample into a vessel body as part of a test assembly, enclosing the sample within an low compressibility fluid, applying pressure to an interior of the vessel body by tightening a compression screw employing a piston acting on said low compressibility fluid, monitoring the pressure, conducting a test on the sample, and recording results of the test for further analysis.

A shielded X-ray radiation apparatus is provided comprising an X-ray source, an X-ray attenuation shield including an elongate cavity to house the X-ray source and incorporating a region to accommodate a sample, a neutron attenuation shield, and a gamma attenuation shield. The neutron attenuation shield is situated adjacent to and substantially surrounds the X-ray attenuation shield and the gamma attenuation shield is adjacent to and substantially surrounds the neutron attenuation shield. In some embodiments a removable sample insertion means is provided to insert samples into the elongate cavity and which is composed of adjacent blocks of material, each respective block having a thickness and a composition which substantially matches the thickness and a composition of one of the X-ray attenuation, neutron attenuation and gamma-ray attenuation shields.

An X-ray imaging system includes the following. An X-ray Talbot imaging apparatus includes an X-ray source, a plurality of gratings, and an X-ray detector. An X-ray is irradiated from the X-ray source through the examined target which is an object and the plurality of gratings and to the X-ray detector to obtain a moire image necessary to generate the reconstructed image of the examined target. A first database shows, for each name or type of material, a correlation between information regarding a signal strength in the reconstructed image generated based on the moire image and quality information of the material included in the examined target. A controller estimates as the evaluation index the quality information in the examined target from the reconstructed image based on information regarding the input name or the type of material and input shape information and the first database.

The disclosed embodiments include a rock sample inspection method. The method may include preparing a sample of formation rock by encapsulating the sample, inserting the sample into a vessel body as part of a test assembly, enclosing the sample within an low compressibility fluid, applying pressure to an interior of the vessel body by tightening a compression screw employing a piston acting on said low compressibility fluid, monitoring the pressure, conducting a test on the sample, and recording results of the test for further analysis.

A specimen radiography system may include a controller and a cabinet. The cabinet may include an x-ray source, an x-ray detector, and a specimen drawer disposed between the x-ray source and the x-ray detector. The specimen drawer may be automatically positionable along a vertical axis between the x-ray source and the x-ray detector.