Facility Support: Refurbishing the High-Resolution X-ray Computed Tomography Laboratory Principal Instrument

这笔赠款将用于翻新德克萨斯大学高分辨率X射线计算机断层扫描设备(UTCT)主要仪器的两个阶段中的第一个阶段。它将用16英寸2048x2048像素非晶二氧化硅平板取代目前用于高达225keV微焦扫描的9英寸像增强器面阵探测器和1024x1024 CCD相机，从而在我们来源的所有X射线能量(~50-450keV)范围内实现无失真成像。它还将包括一个新的高速、大容量转台机架和计算机系统，这些系统除了具有卓越的数据分辨率外，还将允许快速数据采集和锥束重建。这些增强功能将降低扫描成本并扩大研究可能性，包括？4D？按时间序列对体积进行成像的成像技术。这笔赠款还将帮助完成将我们的仪器改造成尖端CT扫描仪所需的工程设计工作，使其达到或超过目前销售的其他大规模生产扫描仪的能力。X射线计算机断层扫描是一种完全无损的检查不透明固体物体内部的手段。X射线CT产生一组二维图像(切片)，显示出标本内部的特征，就像它是沿着图像平面被切开以供查看的。CT技术最初是为医学诊断而开发的，后来通过使用能量更高和/或聚焦更好的X射线源，以及通过提高X射线探测器的空间分辨率，使其适用于工业和科学应用。自1999年以来，UTCT一直作为国家科学基金会的多用户设施运作，使国家地球科学界很容易获得这项技术以及开发它所需的专业知识。UTCT还被学术界和工业界的其他学科广泛使用，包括生物学、人类学和土木工程、机械和化学工程。该项目开始的改进将使我们的主扫描仪完全现代化，同时也使UTCT在适用性和未来的升级方面奠定了更坚实的基础，使其能够继续执行其国家使命。

This grant provides for the first of two stages that will refurbish the principal instrument at the University of Texas High-Resolution X-ray Computed Tomography Facility (UTCT). It will replace the 9-inch image intensifier area detector and 1024x1024 CCD camera currently used for up to 225 keV microfocal scanning with a 16-inch 2048x2048 pixel amorphous silica flat panel enabling distortion-free imagery over the full range of X-ray energies available from our sources (~50-450 keV). It will also include a new high-speed, high-capacity turntable gantry and computer system, which together will allow rapid data acquisition and cone-beam reconstruction, in addition to superior data resolution. These enhancements will lead to lower scanning costs and expanded research possibilities, including ?4D? imaging in which volumes are imaged in time series. The grant will also help fund the engineering design work required to complete the transformation of our instrument into a cutting-edge CT scanner matching or exceeding the capabilities of other mass-produced scanners sold today.X-ray computed tomography is a completely nondestructive means of examining the interiors of opaque solid objects. X-ray CT produces sets of two-dimensional images ('slices') that reveal features in the interior of a specimen as if it had been sliced open along the image plane for viewing. CT technology was originally developed for medical diagnosis, and subsequently adapted to industrial and scientific applications by employing X-ray sources of greater energy and/or superior focus, and by increasing the spatial resolution of the X-ray detectors. Since 1999, UTCT has operated as an NSF multi-user facility, making this technology, and the expertise necessary to exploit it, easily accessible to the national geoscientific community. UTCT has also been utilized by a wide range of other disciplines, including biology, anthropology, and civil, mechanical, and chemical engineering, in both academia and industry. The improvements begun in this project will fully modernize our principal scanner, while also placing UTCT on much firmer ground in terms of serviceability and future upgrades, enabling it to continue in its national mission.