SYSTEM AND METHOD OF ALIGNING SCINTILLATOR CRYSTALLINE STRUCTURES FOR COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY IMAGING

摘要

The present invention discloses a method of aligning scintillator crystalline structures (90) for computed tomography imaging and a system of use. Crystal seeds are deposited inside a glass melt and are then grown to form a plurality of layer crystallites (90). While growing the crystallites (90), a field is applied to align each crystallite structure (90) in a uniform orientation. As a result, the crystallites (90) are configured to reduce light scattering and improve the overall efficiency of the CT system. A CT system is disclosed implementing a scintillator array (56) having a plurality of scintillators (57), each scintillator (57) being formed of a plurality of uniformly aligned crystallites (90). Each crystallite (90) includes a receiving surface (92) and an exiting surface (94) configured perpendicular to an x-ray beam (16). Further, the receiving surface (92) and the exiting surface (94) are connected by a plurality of surface walls (96) arranged parallel to the x-ray beam (16).