Application of continuous-wave terahertz computed tomography for the analysis of chicken bone structure

Abstract

Terahertz (THz) radiation is able to penetrate many different types of nonpolar and nonmetallic materials without the damaging effects of x-rays. THz technology can be combined with computed tomography (CT) to form THz CT, which is an effective imaging method that is used to visualize the internal structure of a three-dimensional sample as cross-sectional images. Here, we reported an application of THz as the radiation source in CT imaging by replacing the x-rays. In this method, the sample cross section is scanned in all translation and rotation directions. Then, the projection data are reconstructed using a tomographic reconstruction algorithm. Two-dimensional (2-D) cross-sectional images of the chicken ulna were obtained through the continuous-wave (CW) THz CT system. Given by the difference of the THz absorption of different substances, the compact bone and spongy bone inside the chicken ulna are structurally distinguishable in the 2-D cross-sectional images. Using the filtered back projection algorithm, we reconstructed the projection data of the chicken ulna at different projection angle intervals and found that the artifacts and noise in the images are strikingly increased when the projection angle intervals become larger, reflected by the blurred boundary of the compact bone. The quality and fidelity of the 2-D cross-sectional images could be substantially improved by reducing the projection angle intervals. Our experimental data demonstrated a feasible application of the CW THz CT system in biological imaging.