Single crystal scintillator plates used for light weight material X-ray radiography

Very thin scintillator imaging plates have recently become of great interest. In high resolution X-ray projection imaging, very thin scintillators of about 5-20 micrometres are used to achieve high spatial resolution. Such thin screens are mainly used in micro-CT and nano-CT systems with either micro-focus X-ray tubes or with synchrotron sources. This work deals with a high resolution CCD camera in connection with an optical system and different single crystal scintillators in application for low energy X-ray micro-radiography. The thin screens used were prepared by mechanical polishing from Y3Al5O12 or Lu3Al5O12 single crystals. The screens can be used in equipment for the detection of different kinds of radiation and particles (UV, VUV, electrons or ions or their beams, X- or gamma-rays). A high resolution open type micro-focus X-ray tube was used to achieve the high resolution. The results show that the single crystal plates exhibit high spatial resolution and high sensitivity to low energy X-rays resulting in high image contrast. The use of the plates is highly suitable for light weight (low Z) material X-ray radiography. The resolution achieved is demonstrated using a test grid. Several light weight objects are imaged using the thin plates.