Automatic detection of explosives in airline baggage using elastic X-ray scatter

July 1998 30 medicamundi In medical X-ray diagnostics, and in industrial X-ray testing with projection imaging, the scattered radiation produced in the human body or test sample is an unwanted byproduct. It degrades the image contrast, making it necessary to employ countermeasures such as antiscatter grids or filters. Nevertheless, scatter effects are the most frequently encountered interaction processes in the relevant energy range for medical and industrial applications and, if appropriately deployed, they can be used for a wide range of material analysis. This fact was the starting point for numerous projects at the Philips Research Laboratories in Hamburg, aimed at using scatter radiation for tomographic imaging, and for identifying biological tissue or other material.