Coherent or Rayleigh scattering overcomes this problem due to the underlying X-ray diffraction principle. This method leads to information about the generic molecular structure, which might be used as a kind of fingerprint to detect and identify contaminants or irregularities in a given object. Although not very new, X- ray diffraction is a versatile and well established technique. We have extended this method towards higher energies and the use of poly-chromatic radiation and energy-resolving detection devices.

In the last few years a variety of potential applications have been found where CXRS could be a powerful tool for 2D or even 3D inspections to determine the presence as well as the spatial distribution of contaminants or defects.

We will describe the basic physical idea. Then an experimental setup using a pencil-beam geometry will be shown. The presentation will be concluded with some results generated in the field of foodstuff inspection for contaminants, corrosion detection and the detection of hidden structures or materials by orientational artifacts.