Apparatus for inspecting objects using coded beam
AssigneeThermo Niton Analyzers LLC
InventorStephen I. Shefsky
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An apparatus for inspecting objects utilizes a fan beam or flood beam to illuminate the inspected region of the object. A modulator, which may take the form of a movable mask, dynamically encodes the beam so that each segment of the inspected region receives varying amounts of radiation according to a predetermined temporal sequence. The resultant signal produced by a backscatter detector or optional transmission detector receiving radiation from the object is decoded to recover spatial information so that an image of the inspected region may be constructed.
Claims25
Apparatus for inspecting an object, comprising:
- a radiation source for generating an illuminating beam expanded along at least one transverse dimension;
- a modulator, disposed in the illuminating beam path between the radiation source and the object, for spatially modulating the illuminating beam in a nonharmonic time-varying manner, such that each segment of an inspected region of the object receives varying amounts of radiation according to a predetermined temporal sequence;
- at least one detector positioned to receive at least one of backscattered radiation and forward-scattered radiation emanating from the object in response to impingement of the illuminating beam on the inspected region;
- and
- a processor, coupled to the at least one detector, for processing a sequence of signals generated by the at least one detector to construct an image of the inspected region.
A method of inspecting an object, comprising steps of:
- generating an illuminating beam expanded along at least one transverse dimension;
- spatially modulating the illuminating beam in a nonharmonic time-varying manner, such that each segment of an inspected region of the object receives varying amounts of radiation according to a predetermined temporal sequence;
- receiving at a detector at least one of backscattered or forward-scattered radiation emanating from the object in response to impingement of the illumination beam on the inspected region and generating a sequence of signals representative of the intensity of the received radiation;
- and
- processing the sequence of signals to construct an image of the inspected region.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.