A xenon ionization detector for scanned projection radiography: 95-channel prototype evaluation.

We have designed, constructed, and tested a 95-channel prototype xenon ionization detector for use in scanned projection radiography (SPR). This detector has higher spatial resolution, is more dose efficient, and is easier to construct than computed tomography (CT) xenon ionization detectors. It consists of two parallel plates separated by a 2-mm gap filled with xenon gas at 2 MPa (20 atm). One plate is a high-voltage electrode while the other is a circuit board etched to form an array of metal collector strips focused on the x-ray source. The resulting detector channels are 0.5 mm wide and 6 cm long. In this paper we present results from measurements of system noise and detector channel calibration. We compared the detector system to a screen/film system and found that it allows the detection of structures with 0.17% radiographic contrast compared to 2% contrast required for detection with screen/film when tested by imaging a 10-cm-thick Lucite phantom with a 10 X 10(-6) C/kg exposure. From images of resolution test patterns, the limiting resolution of the detector is 2.0 1p/mm at 1.6 magnification. Images of reduction mammoplasty tissue samples, obtained with 1/17 the exposure of screen/film images, had the same low-contrast sensitivity but contained less high-contrast detail than the film images.