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

这笔拨款用于修缮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。它将取代目前用于高达225 keV微焦扫描的9英寸图像增强器区域探测器和1024x1024 CCD相机，取而代之的是16英寸2048x2048像素无定形二氧化硅平板，可在我们的源（~50-450 keV）提供的全范围x射线能量范围内实现无畸变成像。它还将包括一个新的高速，大容量转台龙门和计算机系统，除了优越的数据分辨率外，它们一起将允许快速数据采集和锥形梁重建。这些改进将降低扫描成本，扩大研究的可能性，包括？4D？按时间序列对体积进行成像的成像技术。这笔拨款还将资助工程设计工作，以完成将我们的仪器转变为尖端的CT扫描仪，其能力与目前销售的其他大规模生产的扫描仪相匹配或超过。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方法。x射线CT产生一组二维图像（“切片”），显示标本内部的特征，就好像它沿着图像平面被切开以供观察一样。CT技术最初是为医疗诊断而开发的，后来通过采用更大能量和/或更好聚焦的x射线源以及通过提高x射线探测器的空间分辨率而适应工业和科学应用。自1999年以来，UTCT一直作为NSF的多用户设施运行，使这项技术以及开发这项技术所需的专业知识能够很容易地为国家地球科学界所用。UTCT也被广泛应用于其他学科，包括生物学、人类学、土木工程、机械工程和化学工程，无论是在学术界还是工业界。该项目开始的改进将使我们的主要扫描仪完全现代化，同时也使UTCT在可维护性和未来升级方面具有更坚实的基础，使其能够继续履行其国家使命。

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.