Automated defect identification in coherent diffraction imaging with smart continual learning

X-ray Bragg coherent diffraction imaging is a powerful technique for 3D materials characterization. However, obtaining X-ray diffraction data is difficult and computationally intensive, motivating the need for automated processing of coherent diffraction images, with the goal of minimizing the number of X-ray datasets needed. We automate a machine learning approach to identify crystalline line defects in samples from the raw coherent diffraction data, in a workflow coupling coherent diffraction data generation with training and inference of deep neural network defect classifiers. In particular, we adopt a continual learning approach, where we generate training data as needed based on the accuracy of the defect classifier instead of generating all training data a priori. Moreover, we develop a novel data generation mechanism to improve the efficiency of defect identification beyond the previously published continual learning approach. We call the improved method smart continual learning. The results show that our approach improves the accuracy of defect classifiers and reduces training data requirements by up to 98% compared with prior approaches.