Effective atomic number and electron density determination using spectral x-ray CT

Matteo Busi; Jan Kehres; Mohamad Khalil; Ulrik Lund Olsen

doi:10.1117/12.2519851

14 May 2019 Effective atomic number and electron density determination using spectral x-ray CT

Matteo Busi, Jan Kehres, Mohamad Khalil, Ulrik Lund Olsen

Proceedings Volume 10999, Anomaly Detection and Imaging with X-Rays (ADIX) IV; 1099903 (2019) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2519851
Event: SPIE Defense + Commercial Sensing, 2019, Baltimore, MD, United States

Abstract

We present Spectral X-ray Computed Tomography (SCT) estimations of material properties directly from energy-dependent measurements of linear attenuation coefficients (LAC). X-ray Computed Tomography (CT) is commonly utilized to characterize the internal properties of an object of interest. Dual-Energy X-ray CT allows material characterization into energy-independent physical properties such as Z_e and electron density ρ_e. However, it is not robust in presence of dense materials and metal artifacts. We report on the performance of a method for system-independent characterization of materials that introduces a spectroscopic detector into X-ray CT, called spectral ρ_e/Z_e estimation (SRZE). We benchmark the SRZE method against energy-integrated measurements in material classification tests, finding superior accuracy in the predictions. The advantage of this technique, over other methods for material characterization using x-ray CT, is that it does not require a set of reference materials for calibration. Moreover, the simultaneous detection of spectral features makes it robust to highly attenuating materials, since the energy intervals for which the attenuation is photon limited can easily be detected and excluded from the feature estimation.

Conference Presentation

Citation Download Citation

Matteo Busi, Jan Kehres, Mohamad Khalil, and Ulrik Lund Olsen "Effective atomic number and electron density determination using spectral x-ray CT", Proc. SPIE 10999, Anomaly Detection and Imaging with X-Rays (ADIX) IV, 1099903 (14 May 2019); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2519851

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