David Humber

Measurement of imaging properties of scintillating fiber optic plate

Scintillating Fiber Optic Plates (SFOP) or Fiber Optic Scintillator (FOS) made with scintillating fiber-glass, were investigated for x-ray imaging. Two different samples (T x W x L = 2cm x 5cm x 5cm) were used; Sample A: 10μm fibers, Sample B: 50μm fibers both with statistically randomized light absorbing fibers placed in the matrix. A customized holder was used to place the samples in close contact with photodiodes in an amorphous silicon flat panel detector (AS1000, Varian), typically used for portal imaging. The detector has a 392μm pixel pitch and in the standard configuration uses a gadolinium oxy-sulphide (GOS) screen behind a copper plate. X-ray measurements were performed at 120kV (RQA 9 spectrum), 1MeV (5mm Al filtration) and 6MeV (Flattening Filter Free) for Sample A and the latter 2 spectra for Sample B. A machined edge was used for MTF measurements. The measurements showed the MTF degraded with increased X-ray energies because of the increase in Compton scattering. However, at the Nyquist frequency of 1.3lp/mm, the MTF is still high (FOS value vs. Cu+GOS): (a) 37% and 21% at 120kVp for the 10μm FOS and the Cu+GOS arrays, (b) 31%, 20% and 20% at 1MeV and (c) 17%, 11% and 14% at 6MeV for the 10μm FOS, 50μm FOS and the Cu+GOS arrays. The DQE(0) value comparison were (a) at 120kV ~24% and ~13 % for the 10μm FOS and the Cu+GOS arrays (b) at 1MV 10%, 10% and 7% and (c) at 6MV 12%, ~19% and 1.6% for the 10μm FOS , 50μm FOS and Cu+GOS arrays.