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Inline phase tomography using synchrotron radiation with sub-micrometer voxel sizes is nowadays the gold standard for investigation of soft and hard tissues with micron resolution. Recent developments on detectors and X-ray sources allow the transfer of the technique into laboratory environment. For the comparison of three manufacturers, we performed microtomography with advanced laboratory microtomography devices with micron resolution on a porcine nerve, a zebrafish embryo and a historic human tooth. These data sets were also compared with data acquired at the ANATOMIX beamline at Synchrotron Soleil and the TOMCAT beamline at SLS. For the lab-based experiments following scanners were chosen: Skyscan 2214 (Bruker-microCT, Kontich, Belgium), Xradia 620 Versa (Zeiss, Oberkochen, Germany) and a prototype with a MetalJet X-ray source from Exillum from the company Exciscope (Stockholm, Sweden). All devices contained detectors including X-ray optics.

Electrically poled photoaddressable polymers, originally designed for optical data storage, are investigated in an interferometric setup. After optimization of the corona poling conditions, we obtain Pockels coefficients r33 of 44 pm/V at 1555 nm. Even at nonoptimum temperatures, the material can be electrically poled quite efficiently using light to trigger trans–cis isomerization cycles. At room temperature, the degree of poling is stable over months. At elevated temperatures, after a fast initial decay, again stable or very slowly decaying electro-optic coefficients are observed.