Imaging techniques that may be used in applications such as differential phase contrast imaging are disclosed that include, for example, configuring a beam source and a beam detector such that a beam connects the two, positioning an object, a phase grating and an analyzer grating in the beam path, producing multiple data sets based on various analyzer grating positions, and conducting a regression analysis using a predetermined function having a set of fitting coefficients to establish those fitting coefficients. In those techniques, the fitting coefficients may be used to characterize a set of interference properties associated with the object.