Hard X-ray devices for target detection at longer distances

摘要

Detecting and identifying organic and metallic targets at distances from 50 m to 100 m is difficult for hard X-ray detection devices, especially when targets (such as improvised explosive devices (IEDs)) are concealed behind metal (steel) and non-metal (plastic, wood, rocks, soil, etc.) walls. At least two problems are inherent to detection at such long distances: (1) the air attenuation of X-rays, which can be significant for standoff distances of x = 50 m (100 m total for 2x); and (2) a scattering factor proportional to x~4 that comes from the divergence of X-rays propagating from a source to a target and X-rays backscattering from a target (usually, Compton backscattering in low Z-number materials). The compensation of these factors by novel lobster-eye hard X-ray optics is analyzed in this paper. The analysis and the optimization of the hard X-ray lobster eye lens for realistic parameters are also discussed.