Methods and systems for determining the average atomic number and mass of materials
US7286638B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jul 8, 2005 |
| Grant date | Oct 23, 2007 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Nov 18, 2025 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG01N23/20083
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
Disclosed herein are methods and systems of scanning a target for potential threats using the energy spectra of photons scattered from the target to determine the spatial distributions of average atomic number and/or mass in the target. An exemplary method comprises: illuminating each of a plurality of voxels of the target with a photon beam; determining an incident flux upon each voxel; measuring the energy spectrum of photons scattered from the voxel; determining, using the energy spectrum, the average atomic number in the voxel; and determining the mass in the voxel using the incident flux, the average atomic number of the material in the voxel, the energy spectrum, and a scattering kernel corresponding to the voxel. An exemplary system may use threat detection heuristics to determine whether to trigger further action based upon the average atomic number and/or mass of the voxels.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.