A NEW HIGH RESOLUTION IMAGING FACILITY AT UNIVERSITY OF CORDOBA FOR RESEARCH AND APPLICATION PURPOSES

MAURO VALENTE; FRANCISCO MALANO; CLARA QUINTANA; PEDRO PÉREZ; DARÍO GRAÑA; GERMÁN TIRAO

Santa Marta

Congreso; XIII Latin American Seminary of Analysis by X-Ray Techniques; 2012

Asociación Colombiana de Cristalografía y Universidad de Santander

This work reports briefly the most important phases accomplished during the projection, design,construction, characterisation and preliminary reliability and capability tests and first simple applicationsof the integrated multi-task imaging facility at the Laboratorio de Investigaciones e Instrumentacion enFisica Aplicada a la Medicina e Imagenes por Rayos X (LIIFAMIR X) of the University of Cordoba,Argentina. The facility was projected during 2008 and its construction has been supported by differentscientific institutes from Argentina. Facility design, mechanics and electronics construction, hardwarecommunications, controlling software and dedicated image processing and visualisation algorithms wereabsolutely realised by the medical physics group at the Facultad de Matematica, Astronomia y Fisica(FaMAF)– Universidad Nacional de Cordoba with the collaboration of mechanics and electronics researchgroups of the faculty. The integrated multi-task imaging facility consists of different imaging lines, eachone devoted to a specific modality. High-resolution absorption contrast 2D and 3D imaging constitutes themain line, whereas X-ray fluorescence scanning and scattering imaging lines are associated. At thepresent, bunker, connection to X-ray source, vacuum systems, energy-dispersive and 2D detectionmodules are already working. Additionally, mechanics, electronics, hardware control software as well asdedicated image processing, tomographic reconstruction and multi-modality visualisation algorithms arecomplete for the main line. Radiation protection, facility platform as well as mechanic, electronic andvacuum modules have been carefully tested ensuring their correct functionality. Also detection systemsand in-home developed associated software have shown to work appropriately. Additional some specificX-ray optics accessories, like collimation and filtering systems are still being under development with theaim of improving the performance for some non typically applications. The results obtained with the highresolution absorption contrast imaging line demonstrate its reliability pointing out its significantadvantages and suggesting a great potentiality for non-destructive and non-invasive biological samplehigh resolution characterisation.