Patent ID: 7235808

Claim:
A radiographic image reading method comprising: scanning a photostimulable phosphor plate with excitation light by a scanning section such that a relative relationship between an average area S 2 of column crystals of a photostimulable phosphor and an average area S 3 of a beam of the excitation light emitted from a light source is S 3 ≧10*S 2 , the photostimulable phosphor plate comprising: a support; and a photostimulable phosphor layer comprising the column crystals of the photostimulable phosphor formed on a surface of the support; and the protective layer provided so as to cover a surface of the photostimulable layer, said protective layer diffuses the beam of excitation light as the light passes through the protective layer, wherein radiation energy is stored in the photostimulable layer; and producing an image from detected photostimulated emitted from the photostimulable phosphor layer by the scanning with the excitation light.