Patent ID: 7835495

Claim:
An X-ray diffraction imaging system, comprising: an X-ray source configured to emit an X-ray fan beam and a set of X-ray pencil beams; an examination area; a plurality of scatter detectors, each of said plurality of scatter detectors configured to receive scattered radiation from an interaction of an X-ray pencil beam of the set of X-ray pencil beams and a container in said examination area, the scattered radiation having a scatter angle, wherein at least one of said plurality of scatter detectors is located substantially in a plane, said at least one scatter detector comprises a plurality of detector strips, a first detector strip of said plurality of detector strips having a first width equal to a width of the X-ray pencil beam measured where the X-ray pencil beam crosses the plane; a transmission detector array configured to receive the X-ray fan beam attenuated by the container; and a data processing system configured to combine an output from said transmission detector array and an output from said plurality of scatter detectors to generate information regarding the container.