A preliminary study on low-dose X-ray imaging using parametric X-ray

Abstract

Parametric X-ray (PXR) is a new type of radiography with variable monochrome wavelength and high coherent characteristics. The Laboratory for Electron Beam Research and Application (LEBRA) at Quantum Science Institute, Nihon University generated LEBRA-PXR, a system that irradiates Si crystal with electron accelerated by linear accelerator (LINAC). LEBRA-PXR is uniquely developed for world-wide application experiment. X-ray images of tooth samples were taken with flat panel detector using LEBRA-PXR. As a result, images were captured as short as 1 sec. LEBRA-PXR uses LINAC with micro-macro pulse electron beam structure. Imaging time of 1 sec is equivalent to about 0.025 msec when x-ray is converted to actual radiation exposure. The effective dose point estimates of x-rays were about 1 μ Sv/5 sec. Results show that LEBRA-PXR can be used to generate low dose x-ray imaging advocating the possibility of its application in biological studies and medical treatment. © 2011 The Hard Tissue Biology Network Association Printed in Japan, All rights reserved.