Applied Electromagnetics Group

Department of Electrical, Electronic, Telecommunication Engineering, and Naval Architecture

University of Genoa














X-ray tomography












Remote Sensing and Electromagnetic Propagation
A.A. 2012-2013 Rev. 0 (draft 150!2013"



Applied Electromagnetics Group
Department of Electrical, Electronic, Telecommunication Engineering, and Naval Architecture
University of Genoa



Title: X-ray tomography

Course: Remote Sensing and
Electromagnetic Propagation

Rev.: A.A. 2012-2013 Rev. 0
(draft 15/04/2013)

Page: 2

Contents
X-ray tomography 1
1. Introduction 3
2. X-ray propagation 3
3. Computerized tomography 4


Applied Electromagnetics Group
Department of Electrical, Electronic, Telecommunication Engineering, and Naval Architecture
University of Genoa



Title: X-ray tomography

Course: Remote Sensing and
Electromagnetic Propagation

Rev.: A.A. 2012-2013 Rev. 0
(draft 15/04/2013)

Page: 3

1. Introduction
For very high frequencies (~1u
15
1u
17
), the propagation of electromagnetic waves follows
essentially straight lines. We can then refer to ray-propagation. In most cases, the polarization of the
waves is not very important. Consequently, we can only consider the field intensity, which is a
quantity I |E
tot
|
2
.
2. X-ray propagation
Let us consider an homogeneous slab of lenght J. The slab is illuminated by X rays. Let I
0
be the
intensity of the electromagnetic field impinging on the slab (Figure 1).



Figure 1 Homogeneous slab.

On the opposite side of the slab the ray intensity is given by

I = I
0
c
-d
(1)

where p is the attenuation of the material [1/m]. Let us now consider a inhomogeneous object
illuminated by X rays (Figure 2).


Figure 2 Inhomogeneous body illuminated by X rays.


Applied Electromagnetics Group
Department of Electrical, Electronic, Telecommunication Engineering, and Naval Architecture
University of Genoa



Title: X-ray tomography

Course: Remote Sensing and
Electromagnetic Propagation

Rev.: A.A. 2012-2013 Rev. 0
(draft 15/04/2013)

Page: 4

The attenuation is a space-dependent function, i.e., it can be expressed as p(x, y). Consequently,
the intensity measured on the opposite side of the object is given by

I(x) = I
0
c
-] (x,)d

(2)

The quantity

p(x) = -ln
I(x)
I
0
= ] p(x, y)Jy (3)

is called projection and represents the integral of the attenuation along the path of the rays.
3. Computerized tomography
Computerized tomography is a technique for reconstructing the attenuation of an object starting from
measures of the projection.
Let us consider a reference system (x, y) fixed on the object. The attenuation, in this reference
system, is denoted as p(x, y). Moreover, let (X, ) be a second coordinate system rotated of an
angle 0 with respect to (x, y).
The object is illuminated by x rays generated by a source located (and moving) along a line parallel
to the X axis (with < u). The projection is measured by a probe located along another line (the
probing line), which is parallel to the X axis (with > u).


Figure 3 CT measurement configuration.

A generic point in the system (x, y) can be expressed, in the (X, ) coordinate system, as

_
X = x cos 0 +y sin0
= -x sin0 +y cos 0


(4)

Similarly

]
x = Xcos 0 - sin0
= Xsin0 + cos 0


(5)

Let us denote with p
0
(X, ) the attenuation in a point (X, ) of the rotated reference system. Clearly,
for the pairs (x, y) and (X, ) that satisfy (4)-(5), it results

p(x, y) = p
0
(X, ) (6)

Applied Electromagnetics Group
Department of Electrical, Electronic, Telecommunication Engineering, and Naval Architecture
University of Genoa



Title: X-ray tomography

Course: Remote Sensing and
Electromagnetic Propagation

Rev.: A.A. 2012-2013 Rev. 0
(draft 15/04/2013)

Page: 5


By applying the 2D Fourier transform to p(x, y) and p
0
(X, ) we obtain

u

(k
x
, k

) = _ p(x, y)c
-]2nk
x
x
c
-]2nk
j

JxJy
R
2
(7)
u

0
(K
X
, K

) = _ p
0
(X, )c
-]2nK
X
X
c
-]2nK
Y

JXJX
R
2
(8)

By using (5) and (6), equation (7) can be rewritten as

u

(k
x
, k

) = _ p
0
(X, )c
-]2nk
x
(Xcos 0-sIn0)
c
-]2nk
j
(XsIn0+cos 0)
JxJy
R
2
= _ p
0
(X, )c
-]2n|(k
x
cos 0+k
j
sIn0)X+(-k
x
sIn0+k
j
cos 0)]
JXJ
R
2

(9)

where JxJy = JXJ (since the Jacobian of the transformation is unitary).
By setting

_
K
X
= k
x
cos 0 +k

sin0
K

= -k
x
sin0 +k

cos 0


(10)

we can write

u

(k
x
, k

) = u

0
(K
X
, K

) (11)

Consequently, we have a coordinate transformation similar to that in (4)-(5) for the two coordinate
systems (k
x
, k

) and (K
X
, K

) (Figure 3).


Figure 4 Coordinate transformations.

The projection measured by the sensor s given by

p
0
(X) = -ln
I(X)
I
0
= ] p(X, )J (12)

The 1D Fourier transform of the projection is given by

P
`
0
() = ] p
0
(X)c
-]2n]X
JX (13)

By substituting equation (12) in equation (13) we obtain

Applied Electromagnetics Group
Department of Electrical, Electronic, Telecommunication Engineering, and Naval Architecture
University of Genoa



Title: X-ray tomography

Course: Remote Sensing and
Electromagnetic Propagation

Rev.: A.A. 2012-2013 Rev. 0
(draft 15/04/2013)

Page: 6


P
`
0
() = ] ] p(X, )Jc
-]2n]X
JX = ] ] p(X, )c
-]2n(]X+0)
JXJ (14)

and finally

P
`
0
() = u

0
(, u) = u

( cos 0 , sin0) (15)

Equation (15) is usually referred as Radon projection theorem. It states that the 1D Fourier transform
of the projection (measured along a line parallel to X) is equal to the 2D Fourier transform of the
attenuation along the axis K
X
.

Consequently, CT systems works as follows

1. Set the rotation angle to 0 = u
2. Measure the projection p
0
(X), - < X <
3. Compute the 1D Fourier transform of the projection in order to obtain the values of the 2D
Fourier transform of the attenuation on the K
X
axis, i.e., along a line rotated of an angle 0
with respect to the axis k
x

4. Rotate the measurement system, i.e., 0 - 0 +o0 and repeat from 2 until 0 = 2n
5. Compute the 2D inverse Fourier transform of the obtained function

Clearly, in practical applications, there are some problems that must be considered

1. The measurements of the projection are performed in a set of discrete points. Consequently,
its Fourier transform is available in a discrete set of points, too, which are usually equally
spaced along the line K

= u. In the reference system (k

x
, k

) such points result to be radially

distributed. Consequently, since usually the numerical algorithms for the computation of the
Fourier transform require that the points are located on a rectangular grid of points, a
resampling is needed.
2. Moreover, since the number of spectral points is limited, a low pass effect is present, too.
3. The probing line has a finite extent. Consequently, we perform the transform of a windowed
version of the real projection. The Fourier transform is thus a distorted version (convolved
with a sinc function) of the actual one.