Patent Number: 
Section: claims

1. A method of manufacturing a collimator mandrel for a CT imaging system, the method comprising the steps of:forming a core of base material, wherein the core includes a cylindrical rod; andaffixing a thin layer of attenuating material to the core and then machining the thin layer to have a non-uniform thickness to form the collimator mandrel. 2. The method of claim 1 wherein the base material is stainless steel. 3. The method of claim 1 wherein the attenuating material is an alloy or an epoxy. 4. A CT collimator mandrel comprising a solid cylindrical rod positioned within a layer of attenuating material, the CT collimator mandrel formed by:forming the cylindrical rod;sputtering a layer of attenuating material to the cylindrical rod; andeccentrically affixing a pivot stud to each end of the cylindrical rod to support connection of the rod to an assembly. 5. The CT collimator mandrel of claim 4 further formed by machining the layer to create a desired taper. 6. The CT collimator mandrel of claim 4 wherein the attenuating material extends circumferentially around an entire length of the cylindrical rod. 7. The CT collimator mandrel of claim 4 wherein the cylindrical rod includes stainless steel and the attenuating material includes tungsten. 8. The CT collimator mandrel of claim 4 wherein the cylindrical rod has a solid core of stainless steel. 9. The CT collimator mandrel of claim 4 incorporated into a medical scanner. 10. The CT collimator mandrel of claim 9 wherein the rod has a circular cross-section. 11. The CT collimator mandrel of claim 4 further configured to operate in tandem with another collimator mandrel to filter an x-ray beam. 12. The CT collimator mandrel of claim 4 wherein the rod is rotatable about an axis extending along a length of the rod.