Tomographic apparatus and method for reconstructing planar slices from non-absorbed and non-scattered radiation

Abstract

In a tomographic apparatus and method for reconstructing two dimensional planar slices from linear projections of non-absorbed radiation useful in the fields of medical radiology, microscopy, and non-destructive testing, a beam of radiation in the shape of a fan is passed through an object lying in the same quasi plane as the object slice and non-absorption thereof is recorded on oppositely situated detectors aligned with said source of radiation. There is relative rotation between the source-detector configuration and the object within the quasi-plane. Periodic values of the detected radiation are taken, convolved with certain functions, and back-projected to produce a two-dimensional output picture on a visual display illustrating a facsimile of the object slice. A series of two-dimensional pictures obtained simultaneously or serially can be combined to produce a three-dimensional portrayal of the entire object. The invention is the first device which uses a fan beam source of radiation coupled with the application of a convolution method of data reduction with no intervening reordering of fan beam rays, thereby eliminating errors and delays in computation time which would be involved in such reordering. The invention is the first method for providing an exact reconstruction of a two-dimensional picture of an object slice from a series of one-dimensional projections of radiation not absorbed by the slice when the superior fan beam source is employed.

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