WE‐G‐204‐03: Photon‐Counting Hexagonal Pixel Array CdTe Detector: Optimal Resampling to Square Pixels

Abstract

Purpose:Detectors with hexagonal pixels require resampling to square pixels for distortion‐free display of acquired images. In this work, the presampling modulation transfer function (MTF) of a hexagonal pixel array photon‐counting CdTe detector for region‐of‐interest fluoroscopy was measured and the optimal square pixel size for resampling was determined.Methods:A 0.65mm thick CdTe Schottky sensor capable of concurrently acquiring up to 3 energy‐windowed images was operated in a single energy‐window mode to include ≥10 KeV photons. The detector had hexagonal pixels with apothem of 30 microns resulting in pixel spacing of 60 and 51.96 microns along the two orthogonal directions. Images of a tungsten edge test device acquired under IEC RQA5 conditions were double Hough transformed to identify the edge and numerically differentiated. The presampling MTF was determined from the finely sampled line spread function that accounted for the hexagonal sampling. The optimal square pixel size was determined in two ways; the square pixel size for which the aperture function evaluated at the Nyquist frequencies along the two orthogonal directions matched that from the hexagonal pixel aperture functions, and the square pixel size for which the mean absolute difference between the square and hexagonal aperture functions was minimized over all frequencies up to the Nyquist limit.Results:Evaluation of the aperture functions over the entire frequency range resulted in square pixel size of 53 microns with less than 2% difference from the hexagonal pixel. Evaluation of the aperture functions at Nyquist frequencies alone resulted in 54 microns square pixels. For the photon‐counting CdTe detector and after resampling to 53 microns square pixels using quadratic interpolation, the presampling MTF at Nyquist frequency of 9.434 cycles/mm along the two directions were 0.501 and 0.507.Conclusion:Hexagonal pixel array photon‐counting CdTe detector after resampling to square pixels provides high‐resolution imaging suitable for fluoroscopy.