System for Uncollimated Digital Radiography

摘要

The inversion algorithm based on the maximum entropy method (MEM) removes unwanted effects in high energy imaging which result from an uncollimated source interacting with a finitely thick scintillator. The algorithm takes as an input the image from the thick scintillator (TS) and the radiography setup geometry. The algorithm then outputs a restored image which appears as if taken with an infinitesimally thin scintillator (ITS). Inversion is accomplished by numerically generating a probabilistic model relating the ITS image to the TS image and then inverting this model on the TS image through MEM. This reconstruction technique can reduce the exposure time or the required source intensity without undesirable object blurring on the image by allowing the use of both thicker scintillators with higher efficiencies and closer source-to-detector distances to maximize incident radiation flux. The technique is applicable in radiographic applications including fast neutron, high energy gamma and x-ray radiography using thick scintillators.