Experimental determination of linear attenuation coefficients using a CdTe detector: application to breast...

Area of Science:

• Medical Physics
• Materials Science
• Radiological Imaging

Background:

• Accurate tissue-equivalent materials are crucial for quality control in clinical radiography.
• Precise characterization of these materials is essential for reliable phantom development.
• Mass attenuation coefficients (μ/ρ (E)) are key parameters for material characterization in X-ray applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate an experimental methodology for determining mass attenuation coefficients (μ/ρ (E)) using X-ray spectrometry with a CdTe detector.
• To identify breast tissue-equivalent materials among various resins.
• To validate the methodology using reference materials.

Main Methods:

• Measured X-ray spectra incident on and transmitted through materials of varying thicknesses using a CdTe detector in narrow beam geometry.
• Calculated linear attenuation coefficients from measured spectra for each energy.
• Analyzed reference materials (PMMA, aluminum, silver, copper) and various resins.

Main Results:

• Experimental μ/ρ (E) for reference materials showed good agreement with literature values (e.g., -0.5% for PMMA, 3.2% for silver).
• A mixture of UV resin with 15% soft resin demonstrated a mass attenuation coefficient curve closer to adipose tissue at low energies.
• The methodology requires high precision for materials with similar attenuation properties, like breast tissues.

Conclusions:

• The developed methodology is effective for evaluating material equivalence based on mass attenuation coefficients.
• The UV resin mixture shows potential as a breast tissue-equivalent material.
• Improving spectral data acquisition (higher counts) can enhance the methodology's precision and reduce statistical errors.