On a Method For Reconstructing Computed Tomography Datasets from an Unstable Source.

Nicholas Stull,Cort Gautier,James Hunter,Josh Mccumber,Lawrence D'Aries,Michelle Espy

doi:10.3390/jimaging6050035

Abstract

As work continues in neutron computed tomography, at Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE) and other locations, source reliability over the long imaging times is an issue of increasing importance. Moreover, given the time commitment involved in a single neutron image, it is impractical to simply discard a scan and restart in the event of beam instability. In order to mitigate the cost and time associated with these options, strategies are presented in the current work to produce a successful reconstruction of computed tomography data from an unstable source. The present work uses a high energy neutron tomography dataset from a simulated munition collected at LANSCE to demonstrate the method, which is general enough to be of use in conjunction with unstable X-ray computed tomography sources as well.

Highlights

The first recorded X-ray radiograph was published in scientific literature by Wilhelm Röntgen in [1], a discovery that laid the foundation for the medical field of radiology and earned him the first ever Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901 [2]
In 1972, the first commercial CT machine was developed by Sir Godfrey Hounsfield [4], and in the decades that followed, applications of computed tomography using X-rays have been the subject of intense study, both in the medical and industrial fields
A high energy neutron radiography CT dataset was collected on a simulated munition

Summary

Introduction

The first recorded X-ray radiograph was published in scientific literature by Wilhelm Röntgen in [1], a discovery that laid the foundation for the medical field of radiology and earned him the first ever Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901 [2]. In 1972, the first commercial CT machine was developed by Sir Godfrey Hounsfield [4], and in the decades that followed, applications of computed tomography using X-rays have been the subject of intense study, both in the medical and industrial fields. Neutron radiography was developed in the 1930s [5,6] and has been used to successfully produce images of reasonable quality in the subsequent decades [7,8]. Parametric studies to understand image formation in neutron radiography have been performed (for fast neutrons, for example, see [9]). Neutron radiography appears very promising for imaging through high-Z materials (see [10] for one example in the case of fast neutrons)

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