Extension of dynamic range in X-ray radiography using multi-color scintillation detector

A new imaging system using the multi-color scintillator Gd2O2S:Eu has been developed for the X-ray radiography. In this method a color Charge Coupled Device detects the weak blue and green photons associated with the transitions from the terms like 5D1 and 5D2 in the Eu-ions as well as the dominant red photons. As these transitions become appreciable and saturate at quite different intensity levels of the X-ray, we can realize a big extension of the dynamic range of the imaging almost by hundred times in comparison with the conventional monochromatic method. As a result, the new system makes it possible to take a clear image of any complex object, which consists of various parts of the different X-ray penetrability, from plastic to heavy metal, at a single shot. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]