Exposure artifacts in raster scanned equalization radiography

Abstract
The image artifacts characteristic of a scanning chest radiographic system [for human clinical use] are reviewed. The technique employs a pulsed beam of radiation swept in an overlapping raster pattern that can result in severe ripple and scan line artifacts with improper scanning parameters. A 1-dimensional treatment of the scanner geometry shows that the artifacts can be eliminated when the beam width is an integral multiple of interpulse spacing. An extension to a 2-dimensional analysis indicates that with the collimator geometries employed, artifact-free images are not possible with a fixed X-ray frequency but can be achieved when a variable frequency source is used. A treatment of the sensitivity for artifact formation shows that with proper choice of scanning parameters sizable errors in beam width can be tolerated without significant artifact formation.