Reduced mass flying spot scanner having arcuate scanning lines

An apparatus for creating image information corresponding to an object which is inspected with penetrating radiant energy, comprising,

• means for scanning said object with a flying spot of penetrating radiant energy along arcuate lines,
• radiant energy detecting means for receiving said radiant energy after interaction with said object and providing at least one detection signal,
• means for producing pixels from at least one detection signal, wherein each pixel corresponds to an elementary frontal area of the object, and
• means for feeding said pixels, or signals derived therefrom, to a utilization means.

An apparatus for scanning a object with penetrating radiation, comprising,

• a source of penetrating radiation,
• an absorber plate having a fixed, arcuate slit therein,
• a chopper wheel made in part of radiation absorbing material, the chopper wheel having at least one radially oriented slit therein,
• the source of penetrating radiation, the absorber plate, and the chopper wheel being positioned with respect to each other so that radiation from the source passes through the fixed slit in the absorber plate and is incident upon the chopper wheel, and
• means for rotating the chopper wheel.

A method of creating image information corresponding to an object which is inspected with penetrating radiation comprising,

• scanning said object with a flying spot of penetrating radiant energy along curved scanning lines,
• detecting said radiant energy after interaction with said object, and as a result of said detecting, forming a detection signal,
• producing pixels from said detection signal, wherein each pixel corresponds to an elementary frontal area of the object, and
• feeding said pixels, or signals derived therefrom, to a utilization means in such manner that the pixels which correspond to a scan line of said object define a curved line in said utilization means which has the same shape as said curved scanning lines.