Patent ID: 6122344
Filing Date: 2000-09-19
Classification: G01N,G01V

Abstract:
An X-ray inspection system comprising:a collimated X-ray source disposed to produce a beam of X-rays in the form of a fan projected from the source towards an object,a focusing collimation means disposed to pass only X-rays scattered from a voxel element at a particular depth within the object,a detection means, responsive to X-rays from said collimation means, capable of discrimination of X-ray intensities with respect to position of incidence on the detection means and thereby arranged to produce an output signal representing X-ray intensity variation across an angular scattering range, andan analyzing means for processing the output signal to determine the presence of X-rays coherently scattered through at least one predetermined angles,wherein the focusing collimation means and X-ray fan beam are mutually arranged such that the collimation means is of constrained height in a parallel direction to a plane occupied by the fan beam and thus arranged so as to inhibit transmission through the collimation means of X-rays scattered from neighboring voxel elements onto which the X-ray beam is also incident.