Enhanced material separation with a quasi-monochromatic CT imaging method using a photon counting detector

Photon counting detectors can obtain the spectral information of each incident photon while the spectral information might get distorted due to non-ideal detector response. This distortion will degrade the image quality of energy-dependent tomographic reconstructions, which leads to negative impacts on material separation. The quasi-monochromatic CT imaging method that can correct the distortion caused by the detector response might be beneficial to enhance the material separation. Simulation study and experimental verification were carried out to demonstrate the potential benefits of the quasi-monochromatic imaging method. The simulation and experimental results showed a quite good agreement with each other and demonstrated that the quasi-monochromatic imaging method could enhance the material separation by enlarging the separation angles of different materials, including k-edge materials.