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A method for organic/inorganic differentiation using an x-ray forward/backscatter personnel scanner

Published

Author(s)

Jack L. Glover, Lawrence T. Hudson

Abstract

A method is proposed for performing organic/inorganic materials discrimination using an x-ray forward/backscatter scanner. The method is demonstrated using a commercially available personnel security-screening system and requires only image post processing. The method relies upon x-ray interaction physics and the exact registration of forward-and backscattered images, permitting reliable discrimination between low and high atomic number materials over a range of thicknesses. The materials information is used to colorize images and examples of the results are given below.
Citation
X-Ray Spectrometry

Keywords

materials discrimination, Monte Carlo, transportation security, x-ray backscatter

Citation

Glover, J. and Hudson, L. (2013), A method for organic/inorganic differentiation using an x-ray forward/backscatter personnel scanner, X-Ray Spectrometry, [online], https://doi.org/10.1002/xrs.2514 (Accessed October 1, 2025)

Issues

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Created September 10, 2013, Updated November 10, 2018
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