New market-ready X-ray camera developed for colour imaging

GOTT funded STFC to develop a market-ready X-ray camera, enabling colour imaging and access to the chemical composition and microstructure of samples.

X-rays are widely used in various fields such as medicine, material science and astronomy.

However, conventional X-ray detectors do not record the energy of incoming X-ray photons, and thus produce black-and-white images giving little information about a sample.

The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) has been developing a market-ready colour X-ray camera system for over a decade. This innovative technology enhances imaging capabilities by measuring the energy of X-ray photons that are transmitted, absorbed and scattered by a sample.

Many colour images are produced each representing a narrow energy window (1keV), which are then compiled together to make detailed, high-resolution X-ray images with additional colour information, providing access to the sample’s chemical composition and microstructure.

Initially, STFC’s Technology Department developed High Energy X-ray Imaging Technology (HEXITEC). While HEXITEC was successfully used in various areas, its applications in many industry-relevant techniques were limited.    

Funding awarded by the Government Office for Technology Transfer (GOTT) was used to support the development of the next generation of this technology, the HEXITEC-MHz camera.

The new HEXITEC-MHz runs 100 times faster than the original system allowing high-fidelity colour X-ray imaging to be applied at greater fluxes. This has opened new potential application areas such as colour CT imaging for material science and non-destructive testing. The new camera system will be more user-friendly and ready for the market, after hardware development and data processing optimisation.  

The HEXITEC-MHz camera will provide users with information about the composition of a sample, including its structure, what materials are present, and their quantities.