Low energy X-ray imaging using plastic scintillating fiber: A simulation study

The performance of a simple prototype X-ray detector composed of plastic scintillating fibers (PSF) coupled with a charge-coupled device (CCD) for X-ray imaging was evaluated using a Monte Carlo simulation. The advantage of this detector is its simplicity and very low cost. The results show that the imaging detector has a reasonable efficiency and sensitivity for imaging X-ray with energy below a few hundred keV. The resolution can be very good if the size of the PSF used is appropriately chosen. For higher energy X-ray, the efficiency is greatly reduced. Improvements are suggested which could make such imaging detector more suitable and even desirable under certain circumstances and when the low cost are essential.