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Direct digitization of optical images using a photostimulable phosphor system
Author(s) -
Dobbins James T.,
Chotas Harrell G.,
Benveniste Helene
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
medical physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.473
H-Index - 180
eISSN - 2473-4209
pISSN - 0094-2405
DOI - 10.1118/1.596917
Subject(s) - digitization , phosphor , medical imaging , digital radiography , computed radiography , optics , materials science , computer graphics (images) , nuclear medicine , radiography , computer science , optoelectronics , computer vision , artificial intelligence , physics , medicine , radiology , image quality , image (mathematics)
The authors describe a method for directly digitizing optical images with a photostimulable phosphor (PSP) system. A PSP plate is initially charged with an exposure to a uniform x‐ray field, and is then exposed to an optical image which discharges the plate in relation to the amount of incident light. Two applications were investigated: a contact‐print technique for digitizing film radiographs, and a projection technique for digitizing transparent objects such as histology slides. Spatial uniformity was found to be adequate, and linearity of optical density response was excellent from 0.0–2.9 o.d. after look‐up table correction. Spatial frequency response was degraded with the optical technique relative to the x‐ray imaging properties of the plates, but was restorable by Fourier filtering. Image noise following spatial enhancement was satisfactory at intermediate to high optical densities using a high‐resolution PSP plate, but was somewhat degraded at low densities.