Scattering (or dark-field) contrast X-ray microscopy methods for orientation analysis have been gaining increased attention in recent years. The primary advantage of these methods is the ability to map anisotropic structures without directly resolving them, allowing for an extended field of view (FOV). Two different technologies, scanning small-angle scattering and full-field linear grating interferometry have been applied to a wide range of materials, such as fiber-reinforced composites and biological materials. However, both methods have disadvantages with throughput: scanning methods have significant overhead in raster scanning the 2D FOV, while gratings require linear and rotational shifts to access 2D orientation sensitivity. A recently developed design of gratings comprised of circular unit cells grid allows single-shot mapping of orientations/scattering in 2D. Each unit cell of the 2D grid provides information on local scattering, emulating raster scanning, while the circular design yields 2D orientation sensitivity, all in a single frame. This is particularly important when 3D scattering tensor information is of interest, achieved by what is known as X-ray tensor tomography (XTT).

Here, we present the capabilities of the state-of-the-art XTT technology based on circular gratings, commercially available on the Exciscope Polaris imaging platform. Notably, we emphasize the simplicity and efficiency of the technology in the laboratory and validate the results against the synchrotron implementation of this technique.