Non-uniform contrast and noise correction for coded source neutron imaging

Hector J. Santos-Villalobos, Philip R. Bingham

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

5 Scopus citations

Abstract

Since the first application of neutron radiography in the 1930s, the field of neutron radiography has matured enough to develop several applications. However, advances in the technology are far from concluded. In general, the resolution of scintillator-based detection systems is limited to the 10μm range, and the relatively low neutron count rate of neutron sources compared to other illumination sources restricts time resolved measurement. One path toward improved resolution is the use of magnification; however, to date neutron optics are inefficient, expensive, and difficult to develop. There is a clear demand for cost-effective scintillator-based neutron imaging systems that achieve resolutions of 1μm or less. Such imaging system would dramatically extend the application of neutron imaging. For such purposes a coded source imaging system is under development. The current challenge is to reduce artifacts in the reconstructed coded source images. Artifacts are generated by non-uniform illumination of the source, gamma rays, dark current at the imaging sensor, and system noise from the reconstruction kernel. In this paper, we describe how to pre-process the coded signal to reduce noise and non-uniform illumination, and how to reconstruct the coded signal with three reconstruction methods correlation, maximum likelihood estimation, and algebraic reconstruction technique. We illustrates our results with experimental examples.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of SPIE-IS and T Electronic Imaging - Computational Imaging X
DOIs
StatePublished - 2012
EventComputational Imaging X - Burlingame, CA, United States
Duration: Jan 23 2012Jan 24 2012

Publication series

NameProceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
Volume8296
ISSN (Print)0277-786X

Conference

ConferenceComputational Imaging X
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityBurlingame, CA
Period01/23/1201/24/12

Keywords

  • Coded Apertures
  • Coded Source Imaging
  • Neutron Imaging
  • Reconstruction Algorithms

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