Investigation of dual-energy X-ray photon counting using a cadmium telluride detector with dual-energy selection electronics

To obtain two kinds of tomograms at two different X-ray energy ranges simultaneously, we have developed a dual-energy X-ray photon counter with a cadmium telluride (CdTe) detector and two energy-selecting devices (ESDs). The ESD consists of two comparators and a microcomputer (MC). X-ray photons are detected using the CdTe detector, and the event pulses from a shaping amplifier are sent to two ESDs simultaneously to determine two energy ranges. X-ray photons in the two ranges are counted using the MCs, and the logical pulses from the MCs are input to frequency-to-voltage converters (FVCs). The outputs from the two FVCs are input to a personal computer through an analog-to-digital converter to carry out dual-energy computed tomography. The tube voltage and current were 80 kV and 8.5 μA, respectively. Two tomograms were obtained simultaneously with two energy ranges. K-edge CT using iodine and gadolinium media was carried out utilizing two energy ranges of 33-45 and 50-65 keV, respectively. The maximum count rate was 6.8 kilocounts per second with energies ranging from 10 to 80 keV, and the exposure time for tomography was 9.8 min.