Detector for high-energy photon backscatter

Michael D. Silver; Joseph W. Erker; Michael Z. Duncan; Thomas J. Hartford; E. Anne Sivers; James F. Hopkinson

doi:10.1117/12.164736

16 December 1993 Detector for high-energy photon backscatter

Michael D. Silver, Joseph W. Erker, Michael Z. Duncan, Thomas J. Hartford, E. Anne Sivers, James F. Hopkinson

Proceedings Volume 2009, X-Ray Detector Physics and Applications II; (1993) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.164736
Event: SPIE's 1993 International Symposium on Optics, Imaging, and Instrumentation, 1993, San Diego, CA, United States

Abstract

High energy photon backscatter uses pair production to probe deep beneath surfaces with single side accessibility or to image thick, radiographically opaque objects. At the higher photon energies needed to penetrate thick and/or highly attenuating objects, Compton backscatter becomes strongly forward peaked with relatively little backscatter flux. Furthermore, the downward energy shift of the backscattered photon makes it more susceptible to attenuation on its outbound path. Above 1.022 MeV, pair production is possible; at about 10 MeV, pari production crosses over Compton scatter as the dominant x-ray interaction mechanism. The backscattered photons can be hard x rays from the bremsstrahlung of the electrons and positrons or 0.511 MeV photons from the annihilation of the positron. Monte Carlo computer simulations of such a backscatter system were done to characterize the output signals and to optimize a high energy detector design. This paper touches on the physics of high energy backscatter imaging and describes at some length the detector design for tomographic and radiographic imaging.

Citation Download Citation

Michael D. Silver, Joseph W. Erker, Michael Z. Duncan, Thomas J. Hartford, E. Anne Sivers, and James F. Hopkinson "Detector for high-energy photon backscatter", Proc. SPIE 2009, X-Ray Detector Physics and Applications II, (16 December 1993); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.164736

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