  X-ray computed tomography at the nanometer scale (nano-CT) offers a wide
range of applications in scientific and industrial areas. Here we describe a
reliable, user-friendly and fast software package based on LabVIEW that may
allow to perform all procedures after the acquisition of raw projection images
in order to obtain the inner structure of the investigated sample. A suitable
image alignment process to address misalignment problems among image series due
to mechanical manufacturing errors, thermal expansion and other external
factors has been considered together with a novel fast parallel beam 3D
reconstruction procedure, developed ad hoc to perform the tomographic
reconstruction. Remarkably improved reconstruction results obtained at the
Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility after the image calibration confirmed
the fundamental role of this image alignment procedure that minimizes unwanted
blurs and additional streaking artifacts always present in reconstructed
slices. Moreover, this nano-CT image alignment and its associated 3D
reconstruction procedure fully based on LabVIEW routines, significantly reduce
the data post-processing cycle, thus making faster and easier the activity of
the users during experimental runs.
