Two Monte Carlo-based simulators for imaging-system modeling and projection simulation of flat-panel X-ray source

The advantages of a flat-panel X-ray source(FPXS)make it a promising candidate for imaging applications.Accurate imaging-system modeling and projection simulation are critical for analyzing imaging performance and resolving overlapping projection issues in FPXS.The conventional analytical ray-tracing approach is limited by the number of patterns and is not applicable to FPXS-projection calculations.However,the computation time of Monte Carlo(MC)simulation is independent of the size of the patterned arrays in FPXS.This study proposes two high-efficiency MC projection simulators for FPXS:a graphics processing unit(GPU)-based phase-space sampling MC(gPSMC)simulator and GPU-based fluence sampling MC(gFSMC)simulator.The two simulators comprise three components:imaging-system modeling,photon initialization,and physical-interaction simulations in the phantom.Imaging-system modeling was performed by modeling the FPXS,imaging geometry,and detector.The gPSMC simulator samples the initial photons from the phase space,whereas the gFSMC simulator performs photon initialization from the calculated energy spectrum and fluence map.The entire process of photon interaction with the geometry and arrival at the detector was simulated in parallel using multiple GPU kernels,and projections based on the two simulators were calculated.The accuracies of the two simulators were evaluated by comparing them with the conventional analytical ray-tracing approach and acquired projections,and the efficiencies were evaluated by comparing the computation time.The results of simulated and realistic experiments illustrate the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed gPSMC and gFSMC simulators in the projection calculation of various phantoms.

Beam and image experiment of beam deflection electron gun for distributed X-ray sources

Distributed X-ray sources comprise a single vacuum chamber containing multiple X-ray sources that are triggered and emit X-rays at a specific time and location. This process facilitates an application for innovative system concepts in X-ray and computer tomography. This paper proposes a novel electron beam focusing, shaping,and deflection electron gun for distributed X-ray sources.The electron gun uses a dispenser cathode as an electron emitter, a mesh grid to control emission current, and two electrostatic lenses for beam shaping, focusing, and deflection. Novel focusing and deflecting electrodes were designed to increase the number of focal spots in the distributed source. Two identical half-rectangle opening electrodes are controlled by adjusting the potential of the two electrodes to control the electron beam trajectory, and then, multifocal spots are obtained on the anode target. The electron gun can increase the spatial density of the distributed X-ray sources, thereby improving the image quality. The beam experimental results show that the focal spot sizes of the deflected(deflected amplitude 10.5 mm)and non-deflected electron beams at full width at half maximum are 0.80 mm 90.50 mm and 0.55 mm 90.40 mm, respectively(anode voltage 160 kV; beam current 30 mA). The imaging experimental results demonstrate the excellent spatial resolution and time resolution of an imaging system built with the sources, which has an excellent imaging effect on a field-programmable gate array chip and a rotating metal disk.

Simulation study of a magnetocardiogram based on a virtual heart model:effect of a cardiac equivalent source and a volume conductor

In this paper, we present a magnetocardiogram （MCG） simulation study using the boundary element method （BEM） and based on the virtual heart model and the realistic human volume conductor model. The different contributions of cardiac equivalent source models and volume conductor models to the MCG are deeply and comprehensively investigated. The single dipole source model, the multiple dipoles source model and the equivalent double layer （EDL） source model are analysed and compared with the cardiac equivalent source models. Meanwhile, the effect of the volume conductor model on the MCG combined with these cardiac equivalent sources is investigated. The simulation results demonstrate that the cardiac electrophysiological information will be partly missed when only the single dipole source is taken, while the EDL source is a good option for MCG simulation and the effect of the volume conductor is smallest for the EDL source. Therefore, the EDL source is suitable for the study of MCG forward and inverse problems, and more attention should be paid to it in future MCG studies.

Laser-produced plasma helium-like titanium Kα x-ray source and its application to Rayleigh-Taylor instability study

Several experiments are performed on the ShenGuang-Ⅱ laser facility to investigate an x-ray source and test radiography concepts. X-ray lines emitted from laser-produced plasmas are the most practical means of generating these high intensity sources. By using a time-integrated space-resolved keV spectroscope and pinhole camera, potential helium-like titanium Kα x-ray backlighting （radiography） line source is studied as a function of laser wavelength, ratio of pre-pulse intensity to main pulse intensity, and laser intensity （from 7.25 to ～ 11.3 × 10^15 W/cm2）. One-dimensional radiography using a grid consisting of 5 #m Au wires on 16 μm period and the pinhole-assisted point projection is tested. The measurements show that the size of the helium-like titanium Ka source from a simple foil target is larger than 100 ~m, and relative x-ray line emission conversion efficiency ~x from the incident laser light energy to helium- like titanium K-shell spectrum increases significantly with pre-pulse intensity increasing, increases rapidly with laser wavelength decreasing, and increases moderately with main laser intensity increasing. It is also found that a gold gird foils can reach an imaging resolution better than 5-μm featured with high contrast. It is further demonstrated that the pinhole-assisted point projection at such a level will be a novel two-dimensional imaging diagnostic technique for inertial confinement fusion experiments.

Optimization of 4.7-keV X-ray titanium sources driven by 100-ps laser pulses

An experiment with thin titanium foils irradiated by two pulses delayed in time is conducted on the bnenguang-Il laser facility. A prepulse induces an underdense plasma, 2-ns later a main pulse （λL ≈ 0.35 μm, EL ≈120 J, τL ≈100 ps） is injected into the underdense plasma and produces strong line emission from the titanium K shell （i.e., Hea at 4.7 keV）. Data show that the intensity of 4.7-keV X-ray emission with the prepulse is approximately twice more than without the prepulse, and can be used as a backlighting source satisfying the diagnostic requirements for dense plasma probing. High- quality plasma images are obtained with the backlighfing 4.7-keV X-rays in a Rayleigh-Taylor hydrodynamic instability experiment.

Development of a seven-cell S-band standing-wave RF-deflecting cavity for Tsinghua Thomson scattering X-ray source

A 2856-MHz,π-mode,seven-cell standingwave deflecting cavity was designed and fabricated for bunch length measurement in Tsinghua Thomson scattering X-ray source(TTX)facility.This cavity was installed in the TTX and provided a deflecting voltage of 4.2 MV with an input power of 2.5 MW.Bunch length diagnoses of electron beams with energies up to 39 MeV have been performed.In this article,the RF design of the cavity using HFSS,fabrication,and RF test processes are reviewed.High-power operation with accelerated beams and calibration of the deflecting voltage are also presented.

Experimental Study of the X-Ray Radiation Source at Approximately Constant Radiation Temperature

An X-ray radiation source with approximately constant radiation temperature is realized by irradiating golden hohlraum with a shaped laser pulse. A simple theoretical model based on power balance is used to design the shape of the drive laser pulse. Experiments are carried out on the Shenguang III prototype laser facility, and the experimentM results are presented for radiation sources with the flat-top lasting about 2.5 ns at two different peak temperatures of about 150 eV and 170 eV, respectively, including the the drive laser pulses and the time integrated possible improvements are discussed. time histories of the temperatures, the shapes of radiation spectra. The validity of the model and

A Resource Management Algorithm for Virtual Machine Migration in Vehicular Cloud Computing

In recent years,vehicular cloud computing(VCC)has gained vast attention for providing a variety of services by creating virtual machines(VMs).These VMs use the resources that are present in modern smart vehicles.Many studies reported that some of these VMs hosted on the vehicles are overloaded,whereas others are underloaded.As a circumstance,the energy consumption of overloaded vehicles is drastically increased.On the other hand,underloaded vehicles are also drawing considerable energy in the underutilized situation.Therefore,minimizing the energy consumption of the VMs that are hosted by both overloaded and underloaded is a challenging issue in the VCC environment.The proper and efcient utilization of the vehicle’s resources can reduce energy consumption signicantly.One of the solutions is to improve the resource utilization of underloaded vehicles by migrating the over-utilized VMs of overloaded vehicles.On the other hand,a large number of VM migrations can lead to wastage of energy and time,which ultimately degrades the performance of the VMs.This paper addresses the issues mentioned above by introducing a resource management algorithm,called resource utilization-aware VM migration(RU-VMM)algorithm,to distribute the loads among the overloaded and underloaded vehicles,such that energy consumption is minimized.RU-VMM monitors the trend of resource utilization to select the source and destination vehicles within a predetermined threshold for the process of VM migration.It ensures that any vehicles’resource utilization should not exceed the threshold before or after the migration.RU-VMM also tries to avoid unnecessary VM migrations between the vehicles.RU-VMM is extensively simulated and tested using nine datasets.The results are carried out using three performance metrics,namely number of nal source vehicles(nfsv),percentage of successful VM migrations(psvmm)and percentage of dropped VM migrations(pdvmm),and compared with threshold-based algorithm(i.e.,threshold)and cumulative sum(CUSUM)algorithm.The comparisons show that the RU-VMM algorithm performs better than the existing algorithms.RU-VMM algorithm improves 16.91%than the CUSUM algorithm and 71.59%than the threshold algorithm in terms of nfsv,and 20.62%and 275.34%than the CUSUM and threshold algorithms in terms of psvmm.

Study on virtual source method under complex overburden in horizontal well

In conventional seismic exploration,complex overburden prevents us from imaging the deeper underground structure,because near-surface velocity model cannot be efficiently simplified and accurately established. The virtual source method provides a promising solution,which images below a complex overburden without the knowledge of overburden velocities and near-surface changes. In this paper,the authors simulate the forward modeling under complex overburden with sources on the surface and receivers in the horizontal well,and reset the real sources into the horizontal well using the virtual source method,which subtly avoid the distortion effects of the complex overburden. Finally the underground structure can be imaged using Kirchhoff migration,so the feasibility and advantages of the virtual source method are verified.

Simultaneous fluorescence and Compton scattering computed tomography based on linear polarization X-ray

Purpose To propose a method for simultaneous fluorescence and Compton scattering computed tomography by using linearly polarized X-rays.Methods Monte Carlo simulations were adopted to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed method.In the simulations,the phantom is a polytetrafluoroethylene cylinder inside which are cylindrical columns containing aluminum,water,and gold(Au)-loaded water solutions with Au concentrations ranging between 0.5 and 4.0 wt%,and a parallel-hole collimator imaging geometry was adopted.The light source was modeled based on a Thomson scattering X-ray source.The phantom images for both imaging modalities were reconstructed using a maximumlikelihood expectation maximization algorithm.Results Both the X-ray fluorescence computed tomography(XFCT)and Compton scattering computed tomography(CSCT)images of the phantom were accurately reconstructed.A similar attenuation contrast problem for the different cylindrical columns in the phantom can be resolved in the XFCT and CSCT images.The interplay between XFCT and CSCT was analyzed,and the contrast-to-noise ratio(CNR)of the reconstruction was improved by correcting for the mutual influence between the two imaging modalities.Compared with K-edge subtraction imaging,XFCT exhibits a CNR advantage for the phantom.Conclusion Simultaneous XFCT and CSCT can be realized by using linearly polarized X-rays.The synergy between the two imaging modalities would have an important application in cancer radiation therapy.

Numerical simulation for all-optical Thomson scattering X-ray source

Energy spectra, angular distributions, and temporal profiles of the photons produced by an all-optical Thomson scat- tering X-ray source are explored through numerical simulations based on the parameters of the SILEX-I laser system （800 nm, 30 fs, 300 TW） and the previous wakefield acceleration experimental results. The simulation results show that X-ray pulses with a duration of 30 fs and an emission angle of 50 mrad can be produced from such a source. Using the optimized electron parameters, X-ray pulses with better directivity and narrower energy spectra can be obtained. Besides the electron parameters, the laser parameters such as the wavelength, pulse duration, and spot size also affect the X-ray yield, the angular distribution, and the maximum photon energy, except the X-ray pulse duration which is slightly changed for the case of ultrafast laser-electron interaction.

Biomedical X-ray Imaging Enabled by Carbon Nanotube X-ray Sources

Although discovered more than 100 years ago, X-ray source technology has evolved rather slowly. The recent invention of the carbon nanotube （CNT） X-ray source technology holds great promise to revolutionize the field of biomedical X-ray imaging. CNT X-ray sources have been successfully adapted to several biomedical imaging applications including dynamic rnicro-CT of small animals and stationary breast tomosynthesis of breast cancers. Yet their more irnportant biomedical imaging applications still lie ahead in the future, with the devel- oprnent of stationary rnulti-source CT as a noteworthy exarnple.

Low Energy Plasma Focus as an Intense X-ray Source for Radiography

Study on X-ray emission from a low energy (1.8 kJ) plasma focus devicepowered by a 9 μF capacitor bank, charged at 20 kV and giving peak discharge current of about 175kA by using a lead-inserted copper-tapered anode is reported. The X-ray yield in different energywindows is measured as a function of hydrogen filling pressure. The maximum yield in 4π-geometry isfound to be (27.3+-1.1) J and corresponding wall plug efficiency for X-ray generation is 1.52+-0.06%. X-ray emission, presumably due to bombarding activity of electrons in current sheath at theanode tip was dominant, which is confirmed by the pinhole images. The feasibility of the device asan intense X-ray source for radiography is demonstrated.

Studying a kind of portable ultra-bright microfocus x-ray source

This paper studies the properties of a kind of portable ultra-bright microfocus x-ray source with the Monte-Carlo method in detail. The new x-ray source consists of an electron-emission system, an electrostatic focusing system and a metal target. A crystal Lanthanum Hexaboride cathode, a Wehnelt grid and an extracted electrode compose the triode electrode electron-gun system. Two equal radius cylinder electrodes form the focusing system. The key factors determining the focus properties of the electron beam such as the ratio Dw/H, grid bias Vg, and the properties of the extracted electrode arc numerically studied. The calculated results reveal that when Dw/H, Vg, the length of the extracted electrode, and the distance between the grid and the extracted electrode equals 5, q）.6 kV, 10 mm, and 8 mm respectively, the electron beam focal spot can be concentrated down to 9 μm in radius and a reasonable focal length about 72.5 mm can be achieved, at the same time, the cathode emission currents can be as high as 30 mA.

Adaptive Virtual Source Imaging Using the Sequence Intensity Factor:Simulation and Experimental Study

Virtual source(VS)imaging has been proposed to improve image resolution in medical ultrasound imaging.However,VS obtains a limited contrast due to the non-adaptive delay-and-sum(DAS)beamforming.To improve the image contrast and provide an enhanced resolution,adaptive weighting algorithms were applied in VS imaging.In this paper,we proposed an adjustable generalized coherence factor(aGCF)for the synthetic aperture sequential beamforming(SASB)ofVS imaging to improve image quality.The value of aGCF is adjusted by a sequence intensity factor(SIF)that is defined as the ratio between the effective low resolution scan lines(LRLs)intensity and total LRLs strength.The aGCF-weighted VS(aGCF-VS)images were compared with standard VS images and GCF-weighted VS(GCF-VS)images.Simulation and experimental results demonstrated that the contrast ratio(CR)and contrastto-noise ratio(CNR)of aGCF-VS are greatly improved,compared with standard VS imaging.And in comparison with GCF-VS,aGCF-VS can obtain better CNR and speckle signal-to-noise ratio(sSNR)whilemaintaining similar CR.Therefore,aGCF is suitable for VS imaging to improve contrast and preserve speckle pattern.

Phase Imaging Using Laser-produced X-ray Sources

A possible novel application of hard x-ray emitted during laser-plasma interaction was discussed. We established an Optical Transform Function to study the joint effect of the spectral distribution and temporal profile of the laser-produced x-ray on x-ray phase imaging. Though the laser-produced x-ray pulse duration is short and incoherent, the analysis confirms that the current x-ray phase imaging theory still holds for laser-produced x-ray phase imaging.

Self Consistent Calibration of Detectors and Sources for Hard and Soft X-Ray Diagnostics

X-Ray sources, detectors and optical components are now used in a wide range of applications. What is crucial is the absolute calibration of such devices to permit a quantitative assessment of the system under study. A new X-ray laboratory has been built in Frascati (ENEA) to develop diagnostics for nuclear fusion experiments and study applications of these X-ray techniques in other domains, like new material science, non destructive tests and so on. An in-house developed selfconsistent calibration procedure is described that permits the absolute calibration of sources (X-ray emitted fluxes) and detectors (detection efficiencies) as function of the X-ray photon energy, in the range 2 - 120 keV. The calibration procedure involves the use of an in-house developed code that also predicts the spectral response of any detector in any experimental condition that can be setup in the laboratory. The procedure has been then applied for the calibration and characterisation of gas and solid state imaging detectors, such as Medipix-2, GEM gas detector, CCD camera, Cd-Te C-MOS imager, demonstrating the versatility of the method developed here.

Research on the Influence of X-ray Phase Contrast Imaging Parameters with Micro-focus Source

X-ray in-line phase contrast imaging enables weakly to absorb specimens to be imaged successfully with high resolution and definition. In this paper we use computer simulation method to analyze how each parameter influences the quality of the image. It can avoid wasting unnecessary time and materials in the course of experiment to get ideal images.

Accelerated Particle Swarm Optimization for Controlling Virtual Power Plant Consisting of Renewable Energy Sources

RES （renewable energy sources）, such as wind and photovoltaic power plants, suffer from their stochastic nature that is why their behavior on market is very delicate. In order to diversify risk, a concept of VPP （virtual power plant） has been developed. The VPP is composed of several RES, from which at least one of them is fully controllable. Because the production of noncontrollable RES can not be forecasted perfectly, therefore an optimal dispatch schedule within VPP is needed. To address this problem, an APSO （accelerated particle swarm optimization） is used to solve the constrained optimal dispatch problem within VPP. The experimental results show that the proposed optimization method provides high quality solutions while meeting constraints.

Application of an Advanced Image-Based Virtual Monoenergetic Reconstruction of Dual Source Dual-Energy CT Data at Low keV Increases Image Quality for Esophageal Cancer Patients Imaging

Purpose: To explore the significance of dual-source computed tomography (DECT) virtual monoenergetic reconstructions technology in improving the imaging quality of esophageal cancer patients. Materials and methods: 68 patients with clinically suspected esophageal cancer (all confirmed by pathology) were collected. Routine plain scan was performed with SIEMENS Force dual-energy CT and then dual-phase scans were performed. The venous phase images were respectively subjected to traditional virtual monoenergetic reconstructions (Mono_E) and new generation virtual monoenergetic reconstructions (Mono+). Mono_E 55 keV and Mono+ 55 keV virtual single-energy images were obtained respectively. The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of normal esophageal tissue and esophageal cancer lesions, noise and contrast noise ratio (CNR tumor) of normal esophageal tissue and esophageal cancer lesions were compared among 100 kV images, Mono_E images and Mono+ images. At the same time, two imaging physicians read the films and scored the images of each group by using a 5-point scoring method. Results: Mono+ 55 keV images, SNR, SNRtumor, noise and CNRtumor were statistically different from those of 100 kV images and Mono_E images (P < 0.05). And Mono+ 55 keV images also had the highest subjective score, with statistical significance (P 55 keV images had the best quality. Conclusion: The new generation of virtual monoenergetic reconstructions post-processing (Mono+) could reduce image noise and improve the contrast between esophageal cancer lesions and normal esophageal tissues, which was of great significance to improve the imaging quality of esophageal cancer patients and improve the early detection rate of esophageal cancer.