Charged particle scanners
AssigneeDecision Sciences International Corporation
InventorsRobert D. Penny, Michael James Sossong, Matthew Steiger, Young K. Lee
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A volume interrogation system can use an accelerated beam of charged particles to interrogate objects using charged-particle attenuation and scattering tomography to screen items such as portable electronic devices, packages, baggage, industrial products, or food products for the presence of materials of interest inside. The exemplary systems and methods in this patent document can be employed in checkpoint applications to scan items. Such checkpoint applications can include border crossings, mass transit terminals (subways, buses, railways, ferries, etc.), and government and private-sector facilities.
Claims24
A scanner for interrogating contents of a volume comprising:
- an accelerator structured to generate a beam of charged particles;
- a chamber located in a path of the beam of charged particles to receive the beam of charged particles;
- a beam steering system located in the chamber to receive the beam of charged particle and structured to scan the beam of charged particles over a range of beam angles;
- a translation stage located in a path of the scanned beam of charged particles from the beam steering system, the translation stage is configured to support an object to be scanned, and the translation stage is operable to move the object relative to the scanned beam of charged particles;
- a first particle tracking detector located relative to the translation stage to receive charged particles that transit through the object and to measure position and direction of the charged particles that transit through the object while allowing the charged particles to pass through;
- a calorimeter located relative to the first particle tracking detector to receive the charged particles from the first particle tracking detector and to measure the received charged particles to represent energy of the charged particles received by the first particle tracking detector;
- and
- a processor communicably coupled to the first particle tracking detector and the calorimeter to process information from the first particle tracking detector and the calorimeter to yield an estimate of a spatial map of atomic number and density of the object.
A method of operating a scanner for interrogating contents of a volume, the method comprising:
- generating a collimated charged particles beam;
- creating a rastered fan beam by steering the generated beam of charged particles through a range of angles;
- converting the rastered fan beam into a rastered parallel beam;
- steering the rastered parallel beam through a range of illumination angles to scan an object;
- detecting positions and directions of the charged particles that exit the object;
- and
- generating an estimate of a spatial map of the atomic number and the density of the object based on at least the positions and the directions of the charged particles that exit the object.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.