Small-angle x-ray scattering tensor tomography provides three-dimensional information on the unresolved material anisotropic microarchitecture, which can be hundreds of times smaller than an image pixel. Up to now, computing the resulting images took up to hours of computing time. We developed a novel computational approach that enables rapid tensor-tomographic reconstructions a few orders of magnitude faster compared to established techniques, given the same computational resources.

The achieved acceleration may pave the way toward the investigation of multiple large samples as well as rapid control and feedback during in situ tensor-tomographic experiments, opening new perspectives for the understanding of the fundamental link between functional material properties and microarchitecture. Understanding these properties is crucial for developing high-tech materials with applications in energy production, construction, and telecommunications.