Wissenschaftliche Artikel der BAM
Spektren von gepulsten Röntgenquellen wie Blitzröhren, Linearbeschleuniger (LINACs) oder Betatrons lassen sich in der Literatur nicht finden. Eine gängige Lehrmeinung ist, dass sich solche Spektren nicht messen lassen. Deshalb wurden in Zusammenarbeit mit der Goethe-Universität Frankfurt und neuester Messtechnik diese Problematik untersucht. Es wurde ein CeBr3-Szintillator-Kristall mit einem klassischen Photoelektronenvervielfacher (PMT) und einer analogen Übertragungskette verwendet, der über Stunden Integrationszeit nur einen sehr geringen Untergrund detektiert. Als kritischter Punkt stellte sich die geeignete Kollimierung von Quelle und Detektor bei möglichst großem Abstand heraus. Zu diesem Zweck wurde das verwendete 7 MeV-Betatron in einen 3t-Bleibunker betrieben, der ein Austrittsloch von 1 mm für die erzeugte Röntgenstrahlung besaß. Der Detektor wurde mit einem Densimet-Zylinder abgeschirmt. Damit konnte die Bedingung für die Spektroskopie gepulster Quellen erreicht werden: pro Puls darf nur 1 Photon den Detektorkristall erreichen, damit ohne Pile-up seine Energie vermessen werden kann. Trotz schnellster Elektronik war es nicht möglich, mehere Photonen pro Röntgenpuls (beim Betatron ca. 1 Mikrosekunde) spektral richtig aufzulösen. Die gemessenen Spektren zeigen die erwartete Form, wie sie z.B. mit aRTist simuliert werden können.
A comparative study on the performance of digital detector systems for high energy applications
(2014)
For cast components reaching or exceeding total material thicknesses of 150mm, high energy sources such as linear accelerators or Betatrons are required in order to obtain reasonable exposure times. In this study, the performance of digital detector systems, involving imaging plates (IP) and digital detector arrays (DDA), was evaluated with respect to the testing class B requirements as formulated in the standard EN ISO 17636-2. As a reference, traditional radiographic film and a Cobalt-60 source was used. With film exposures, testing class B was achieved with Co-60 and Betatron (7.5 MV) at longer exposure times. The preliminary results show that the testing class B was not obtained with the examined digital detector arrays (DDA) and the high resolution imaging plates (IP) , even at 40, 60 and 80 minutes exposure time with a 7.5 MV Betatron. Class A was achieved using high resolution imaging plates with optimized metal filters between object and IPs and a high resolution DDA with intermediate Cu filters. Class A was also achieved applying a DDA with lower basic spatial resolution than required by Table B.13 of EN ISO 17636-2, but using the compensation principle as described in this standard. The next generation of digital detector arrays might potentially be able to obtain class B performance with the expected spatial resolution and sensitivity improvements.
In this contribution, we present a dual high-energy X-ray imaging technique for cargo container inspection using the 'spectral high-energy X-ray attenuation method'. This method is based on attenuation of continuous highenergy spectra. The developed experimental technique consists of a betatron as high-energy (up to 7.5 MeV) X-ray source and a matrix detector with high spatial resolution (400 ìm) for digital X-ray imaging. In order to evaluate the material discrimination capability using dual high-energy X-ray imaging, a test specimen is proposed, comprising step wedges of different low and high atomic number (Z) materials. The selected X-ray spectra for the dual-energy experiments correspond to 3 MV and 7.5 MV acceleration potential of the betatron. We evaluated the ratio between low- and high-energy X-ray attenuation coefficients quantitatively based on simulated poly-energetic high-energy X-ray source spectra and the detector sensitivity using the 'analytical Radiographic Testing inspection simulation tool' (aRTist) developed at BAM. The simulated effective attenuation coefficients are compared with corresponding experimental results in order to establish a method for identification of low- and high-Z materials in the container. Finally, important applications of the proposed technique in the context of aviation security are discussed.