Detection of radiation in radiographic apparatus
AssigneeE M I Limited
InventorGodfrey Newbold Hounsfield
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The invention provides apparatus for examining bodies by means of penetrating radiation such as X- or .gamma.- radiation. The radiation is directed toward the body in a sectoral-shaped swath and the radiation emergent from the body is collected by detector devices. Each device comprises a scintillator crystal which is arranged to respond to the receipt of the radiation by emitting visible light. The devices are irradiated simultaneously and then interrogated in sequence so that the light emitted by respective ones of the devices, which is in each case indicative of the amount of radiation incident thereon, can be identified as to its origin.
Claims8
Radiographic apparatus for examining a body by means of radiation such as X- or .gamma.-radiation including,
- a. a source of said radiation arranged to irradiate a substantially planar slice of the body along a plurality of similar sets of rays, each set being directed through said body at a respective angle, or mean angle, with respect thereto
- b. detecting means, disposed on the side of the slice remote from the source, for detecting the radiation transmitted through the body along each of the rays;
- said detecting means including
- i. a detector device arranged to receive radiation transmitted along one of the rays of a set and to provide output energy, of a wavelength different from that of the radiation, which is indicative of the amount of radiation received thereby and
- ii. measuring means arranged to measure the intensity of said output energy,
- c. switching means for causing the measuring means to measure said output energy over a predetermined interval of time and
- d. means for substantially preventing the radiation being incident on the detector device during the predetermined interval.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.