A theoretical study of CsI:Tl columnar scintillator image quality parameters by analytical modeling

Medical X-ray digital imaging systems such as mammography, radiography and computed tomography (CT), are composed from efficient radiation detectors, which can transform the X-rays to electron signal. Scintillators are materials that emit light when excited by X-rays and incorporated in X-ray medical imaging detectors. Columnar scintillator, like CsI:T1 is very often used for X-ray detection due to its higher performance. The columnar form limits the lateral spread of the optical photons to the scintillator output, thus it demonstrates superior spatial resolution compared to granular scintillators. The aim of this work is to provide an analytical model for calculating the MTF, the DQE and the emission efficiency of a columnar scintillator. The model parameters were validated against published Monte Carlo data. The model was able to predict the overall performance of CsI:Tl scintillators and suggested an optimum thickness of 300 μm for radiography applications. - Highlights: • An analytical model for calculating MTF, DQE and Detector Optical Gain (DOG) of columnar phosphors was developed. • The model was fitted to published efficiency and MTF Monte Carlo data. • A good fit was observed for 300 µm columnar CsI:Tl thickness. • The performance of the 300 µm column thickness CsI:Tl was better in terms of MTF and DOG for radiographic applications