High Temporal Resolution

Temporal resolution is the ability of the system to resolve events in time. Essentially, it is the time between sequential tomographic collections of a sample. Fast (also known as dynamic or 4D) scanning is important for in-situ experiments where the sample is changing with time. Ideally, the temporal resolution of the experiment should be high enough to observe individual events within the sample, otherwise the sample will change during a scan and cause large movement artifacts in the resulting image. Experiments where temporal resolution is important include fluid flow through porous media or crack formation in building materials under load, among many others. Another thing to consider is if fast scanning is important for samples that could change unintentionally during the scan such as a biologic sample that dries out during a long scan.

Achieving a high temporal resolution usually comes at the cost of spatial resolution and/or image quality. It is usually best to tailor the temporal resolution to the experiment rather than trying to achieve the fastest scan possible. Another thing to consider is that dynamic scanning produces a lot of data, therefore scanning at higher temporal resolutions than needed will produce redundant data that will add to the overall data size of the experiment.