Abstract
Absorption based CT imaging has been an invaluable tool in medical diagnosis, biology, and materials science. However, CT requires a large set of projection data and high radiation dose to achieve superior image quality. In this letter, we report a new imaging modality, X-ray Induced Acoustic Tomography (XACT), which takes advantages of high sensitivity to X-ray absorption and high ultrasonic resolution in a single modality. A single projection X-ray exposure is sufficient to generate acoustic signals in 3D space because the X-ray generated acoustic waves are of a spherical nature and propagate in all directions from their point of generation. We demonstrate the successful reconstruction of gold fiducial markers with a spatial resolution of about 350 μm. XACT reveals a new imaging mechanism and provides uncharted opportunities for structural determination with X-ray.
Highlights
Absorption based CT imaging has been an invaluable tool in medical diagnosis, biology, and materials science
We report a new imaging modality, X-ray Induced Acoustic Tomography (XACT), which takes advantages of high sensitivity to X-ray absorption and high ultrasonic resolution in a single modality
In XACT, we detect the acoustic signals generated by X-rays
Summary
Absorption based CT imaging has been an invaluable tool in medical diagnosis, biology, and materials science. We report a new imaging modality, X-ray Induced Acoustic Tomography (XACT), which takes advantages of high sensitivity to X-ray absorption and high ultrasonic resolution in a single modality. A single projection X-ray exposure is sufficient to generate acoustic signals in 3D space because the X-ray generated acoustic waves are of a spherical nature and propagate in all directions from their point of generation. X-rays are absorbed by the excitation of inner-shell electrons and generate photoelectrons[4,5]. The use of XA signals for volumetric imaging is uniquely advantageous: a single projection X-ray exposure is sufficient to generate acoustic signals in 3D space (Fig. 1c). Mega electron-volts (MeV) energy X-rays with long pulse width (5 μs pulsed X-ray beams generated from a medical linear accelerator (LINAC)) was employed in our previous XACT imaging system. Our experimental results indicate that high resolution (350 μm) images can be readily achieved with the ultrashort-pulsed X-ray excitation
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