Clarification on generalized Lau condition for X-ray interferometers based on dual phase gratings

To implement dual phase grating x-ray interferometry with x-ray tubes, one needs to incorporate an absorbing source grating. In order to attain good fringe visibility, the period of a source grating should be subject to a stringent condition. In literature some authors claim that the Lau-condition in Talbot-Lau interferometry can be literally transferred to dual phase grating interferometry. In this work we show that this statement in literature is incorrect. Instead, through an intuitive geometrical analysis of fringe formation, we derived a new generalized Lau-condition that provides a useful design tool for implementation of dual phase grating interferometry. (C) 2019 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement