Spektr: A computational tool for x‐ray spectral analysis and imaging system optimization

TLDR

The authors present a computational toolkit for calculating x‑ray spectra, selecting elemental and compound filters, and determining beam quality metrics such as half‑value layer, mR/mAs, and fluence per unit exposure. The toolkit implements the Boone‑Seibert TASMIP model in Matlab, uses an NIST‑based attenuation database, and provides a GUI for simulating beam filtration and imaging performance across kVp, filter material, and thickness. Simulations show unexpected energy‑response effects in flat‑panel detectors and suggest several hypotheses for optimal beam filtration that merit further study.

Abstract

A set of computational tools are presented that allow convenient calculation of x‐ray spectra, selection of elemental and compound filters, and calculation of beam quality characteristics, such as half‐value layer, mR/mAs, and fluence per unit exposure. The TASMIP model of Boone and Seibert is adapted to a library of high‐level language (Matlab™) functions and shown to agree with experimental measurements across a wide range of kVp and beam filtration. Modeling of beam filtration is facilitated by a convenient, extensible database of mass and mass‐energy attenuation coefficients compiled from the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The functions and database were integrated in a graphical user interface and made available online at http://www.aip.org/epaps/epaps.html . The functionality of the toolset and potential for investigation of imaging system optimization was illustrated in theoretical calculations of imaging performance across a broad range of kVp, filter material type, and filter thickness for direct and indirect‐detection flat‐panel imagers. The calculations reveal a number of nontrivial effects in the energy response of such detectors that may not have been guessed from simple K ‐edge filter techniques, and point to a variety of compelling hypotheses regarding choice of beam filtration that warrant future investigation.