Radiant energy imaging with scanning pencil beam

Claim 2

Radiant energy imaging apparatus comprising a source of a pencil beam of radiant energy, radiant energy detecting means defining a curve in fixed relationship to said source, means for scanning with said pencil beam said radiant energy detecting means along said curve to provide an image signal representative of the radiant energy response of the medium in a region traversed by said pencil beam along a path to said detecting means, means for relatively displacing said region and an assembly comprising said source and said detecting means to establish relative translating motion in a direction transverse to a line joining said source and said detecting means to produce a sequence of image signals representative of the radiant energy response of said region in two dimensions, and means responsive to said image signals for producing an image representative oF said response.

Claim 3

Radiant energy imaging apparatus in accordance with claim 1 wherein said radiant energy comprises X-rays.

Claim 4

Radiant energy imaging apparatus in accordance with claim 1 wherein said source of a pencil beam comprises, a source of said radiant energy, means for collimating said radiant energy into a slit-like beam, and means defining an aperture for intercepting said slit-like beam to provide said pencil beam, said means for scanning comprising means for relatively moving said aperture and said slit-like beam to effect said scanning.

Claim 5

Radiant energy imaging apparatus in accordance with claim 3 wherein said source of an uncollimated beam of said radiant energy comprises an X-ray tube, said means for collimating comprises a plate of X-ray opaque material formed with a slit of X-ray transparent material, said means defining an aperture comprises a radial slit that is X-ray transparent in an X-ray opaque disc, and said means for relatively moving comprises means for rotating said disc to move said radial slit along said first-mentioned slit.

Claim 6

Radiant energy imaging apparatus in accordance with claim 2 wherein, said detecting means comprises means for converting incident X-ray energy into light energy, and photodetecting means responsive to the latter light energy for providing an electrical image signal that is amplitude modulated in proportion to the instantaneous X-ray flux incident upon said detecting means.

Claim 7

Radiant energy imaging apparatus in accordance with claim 5 and further comprising a television display system responsive to said image signal for displaying a corresponding image.

Claim 8

Radiant energy imaging apparatus in accordance with claim 5 wherein said means is a crystal from the group consisting of sodium iodide and cesium iodide, and said photodetecting means comprises photomultipliers at each end of said crystal means.

Claim 9

Radiant energy imaging apparatus in accordance with claim 6 and further comprising means for relatively displacing a region to be scanned and said curve to display a two-dimensional image of the X-ray response of said region being scanned.

Claim 10

Radiant energy imaging apparatus in accordance with claim 7 and further comprising means for relatively displacing a region to be scanned and said curve to provide a two-dimensional image signal of the X-ray response of said region being scanned.

Claim 11

Radiant energy imaging apparatus in accordance with claim 1 wherein said radiant energy comprises X-rays, said source of a pencil beam comprising, a source of said radiant energy, said radiant energy detecting means defining a line, means including a plate of X-ray opaque material formed with a linear slit of X-ray transparent material for collimating said radiant energy into a slit-like beam embracing a plane substantially including said slit and said straight line, an X-ray tube comprising a source of the uncollimated beam of said radiant energy, an X-ray opaque disc formed with at least one radial slit that is X-ray transparent, and means for rotatably supporting said disc with its plane generally perpendicular to the plane of said slit-like beam so that rotation of said disc causes said radial slit to transmit contiguous portions of said slit-like beam to said detecting means to effectively provide said pencil beam scanning said straight line from one end to the other.

Claim 12

Radiant energy imaging apparatus in accordance with claim 10 wherein said means for relatively displacing comprises means for translating an object to be imaged transverse to and across said plane substantially including said straight line and said slit-like beam.

Claim 13

Radiant energy imaging apparatus in accordance with claim 10 wherein said means for relatively displacing comprises means for moving said source and said detecting means together while said region remains stationary.