[Digital radiography using light-emitting detectors. Operative principles and characteristics of images]

This paper briefly describes the technical features of a digital radiographic system based on the principle of scanning laser stimulated luminescence. Such aspects as the physics of the stimulable phosphor detector are dealt with, and image acquisition, processing, and hard-copy output. Automatic analysis of pixel histograms is described, in a qualitative way, together with contrast modifications and spatial filtering. Physical image characteristics are reported. The overall performance of digital radiography is examined, together with the current requirements and its eventual developments.