abstract
Additive Manufacturing, commonly referred as 3D printing, opened a new way to promptly produce cost-effective imaging apertures based on high-density materials, to be used in x-ray imaging systems, such as MicroPattern Gas Detector (MPGD) based Full Field X-ray Fluorescence (FF-XRF) spectrometers. These provide energy and spatially resolved information, allowing the mapping of large area samples. Traditionally, image formation is accomplished with pinhole apertures, devices of easy manufacturing that lead to sub-micrometre position resolution values. However, the sensitivity of the imaging system is severely hampered. To surpass this issue, alternative optical components, such as parallel multi-hole collimators, can be used.In this work, 3D printed multi-hole collimators with different geometries and material compositions are presented and applied to a FF-XRF spectrometer based on the 2D-THCOBRA gas detector. The system's performance parameters with different collimators, namely, relative sensitivity and position resolution, were experimentally determined and compared with the ones obtained with pinhole-based setups. The FF-XRF spectrometer was also simulated, to understand how different collimator geometries affect sensitivity and position resolution.
keywords
FABRICATION; COLLIMATORS; SPECT
subject category
Spectroscopy
authors
Carvalho, PMS; Leite, FD; Tavares, G; Correia, PMM; Oliveira, JMM; Veloso, JFCA; Silva, ALM
our authors
J. Martinho Oliveira
Coordinator ProfessorProjects
Collaboratory for Emerging Technologies, CoLab (EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES)
CICECO - Aveiro Institute of Materials (UIDB/50011/2020)
CICECO - Aveiro Institute of Materials (UIDP/50011/2020)
Associated Laboratory CICECO-Aveiro Institute of Materials (LA/P/0006/2020)
acknowledgements
This work was supported by project CERN/FIS-INS/0013/2021, by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement STRONG-2020 - No 824093, and by projects i3N (UIDB/50025/2020 and UIDP/50025/2020) and CICECO - Aveiro Institute of Materials (UIDB/50011/2020, UIDP/50011/2020 & LA/P/0006/2020) , through the FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC) .The authors acknowledge Grupo Simoldes (Oliveira de Azeme is, Portugal) , particularly Engenheiro Joao Vieira, for SLM manufacturing of the parallel multi-hole collimators used in this study.