Feasibility of track-based multiple scattering tomography

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a novel tomographic method using high-energy electron beams to non-destructively reconstruct the 3D material distribution within small objects, achieving high resolution and contrast.

Contribution

It introduces a new track-based multiple scattering tomography technique utilizing electron beam deflections for material imaging.

Findings

Successful 3D reconstruction of aluminium cube material distribution.

Achieved edge resolution of approximately 50 microns.

Demonstrated high contrast in material differentiation.

Abstract

We present a tomographic technique making use of a gigaelectronvolt electron beam for the measurement of the spatial material budget distribution of centimetre-sized objects. With simulation tools originating from high-energy physics applications, a test environment replicating a beam telescope is set up to measure the trajectory of electrons traversing a structured aluminium cube with 6 mm edge length. The variance of the deflection angle distribution of the electrons undergoing multiple Coulomb scattering at the aluminium cube serves as an estimator for the radon transform of the material budget distribution. Basing the sinogram on position-resolved estimators enables the reconstruction of the original object. We show the feasibility of the reconstruction of the three-dimensional material budget distribution of the aluminium cube by successively imaging two-dimensional distributions of the projected material budget under varying rotation angles. Using a filtered back projection, the reconstructed image yields edge resolutions of the order of $50\pm2$ micron and contrasts of about $6.6\pm0.2$ compared to air, offering a new technique in non-destructive material testing.