X-Ray Scintillators for Security Screening
X-ray scintillators for security screening
X-ray scintillators for security screening are coated screens that absorb X-rays and re-emit that energy as visible light, so the sensor inside a screening machine can build an image of what is inside a bag, a parcel or a container. At Analytical Components we make these screens to order at our facility in St Leonards on Sea, coating gadolinium oxysulfide (Gadox) onto the substrate, thickness and format your detector needs.
We coat in a Class 10,000 (ISO 7) cleanroom and we are ISO 9001:2015 accredited. If you are not certain which material or coating method suits your equipment, our staff can advise, and we will work with you to get the screen correctly specified before anything is made.
How a scintillator turns X-rays into a security image
In a screening machine, X-rays pass through the item being inspected and land on the scintillator screen. The phosphor coating absorbs the X-ray energy and re-emits it as visible photons. A silicon sensor, usually a CCD or CMOS detector, reads that light and turns it into the image the operator sees. Denser materials absorb more of the beam than lighter ones, so they appear differently on screen, and that contrast is what lets an operator pick out something that should not be there.
Gadox, also written Gd2O2S, GOS or P43, is the most widely used phosphor in X-ray applications. It has comparatively high luminescent efficiency, its material characteristics are well understood, and the light it gives off sits at wavelengths that silicon detectors read well. That last point has a practical effect. A screen emitting light your sensor cannot read efficiently will cost you image quality, however good the coating is.
Which Gadox material suits your screening equipment
Most X-ray scintillators for security screening use one of three Gadox formulations, and we coat all three. The choice comes down to the energy of the beam, how quickly your detector has to read, and how much afterglow your application can tolerate.
- Gadox:Tb emits yellow green light with a primary peak at 545nm and can emit across 382 to 622nm. Persistence is medium and afterglow is low. It gives highly homogenous coatings at lower cost, which makes it the usual choice for lower frame rate equipment where resolution and light output matter most.
- Gadox:Pr emits green light at 513nm, decays to 10% in around 7 microseconds and has no afterglow. That speed is why it is specified for ultra high speed imaging and for backscatter detectors.
- Gadox:Eu emits red light at 627nm and is used where the beam energy is extremely high.
Gadox:Tb and Gadox:Pr are both used with hard X-rays.
Substrates and formats we can coat onto
Screening equipment is rarely standard, so X-ray scintillators for security screening are rarely a standard part. We coat Gadox onto glass and fibre optic plates (FOPs), and onto metals including stainless steel, copper and aluminium. We also work with specialist materials such as Mylar and silicon, and can coat directly onto the cathode of a vacuum tube.
We keep investing in coating methods and techniques, which means there is usually more than one way to get a given material coated, and our staff can advise on which suits a particular substrate.
Why choose Analytical Components
We manufacture in house and deal with customers directly, and we would rather get a specification right at the start than send you something that almost fits. Every enquiry is treated as its own job, whether it is a repeat production order or a one-off piece for a prototype.
Our lines of communication stay open throughout. You can have progress updates by phone or email, and you are welcome to visit our production facility, which we actively encourage. We treat customer confidentiality as a priority and offer NDAs where they apply.
Analytical Components is ISO 9001:2015 accredited, which means we have demonstrated that we can consistently supply products meeting customer and regulatory requirements. Coating happens in our Class 10,000 (ISO 7) cleanroom, and that controlled environment is what keeps coatings uniform between one batch and the next. We buy raw materials from a small number of established suppliers for the same reason.
Our ISO 9001:2015 certificate, RoHS and REACH documentation are all available on our downloads page. You can also read more about Analytical Components.
Talk to us about X-ray scintillators for security screening
If you are sourcing X-ray scintillators for security screening, for medical equipment or for use as energy detectors, we would be glad to hear what you are working on. Fill in our contact form, email info@analyticalcomponents.uk, or call +44 (0) 1424 850004 if you would rather talk it through. It helps to have the sensor type, the beam energy and the screen size to hand, and we can talk you through the options from there.
Analytical Components scintillators are used across a range of fields. They support accurate diagnosis and treatment in hospitals, medical imaging, dental imaging and veterinary imaging. They are used for security screening and industrial inspection, where the priority is safety and product quality. They also support work in nuclear research and university and college research.