PSP Latent image production

*X-ray beam produces a latent image in the photostimulable fluorohalides

that are in the active layer of the IP.
*Xray photon strikes the IP phosphors and is absorbed by photoelectric
absorption.
*The photoelectrons that are produced excite neighboring low-energy
electrons.
*The excited electrons leave their original orbital plane and are trapped by
the fluorohalides. Some of these electrons drop back into their original orbit
causing fluorescence. The others remain in the fluorohalide F-trap and
creates a "hole" at the Europium sites, forming the latent image.

So basically the image is created by energy transfer during photoelectric

interactions. The photoelectrons that are produced excite a number of low-
energy electrons to create "holes" in the crystal phosphor. The fluorohalides
trap about 1/2 of the electrons, creating the "holes" at the Europium sites.
The Europium electron holes are the actual latent image.
The latent image in a PSP system will lose about

*25% of its energy in 8 hours - timely processing is necessary

Latent image processing of a PSP IP

*Load the cassette into an image reader device (IRD).
*The plate is scanned by a finely focused helium-neon laser beam in a raster
pattern.
*The laser beam causes the phosphors to emit the stored latent image in the
form of light photons (photostimulated luminescence - PSL)
*Electrons moving to a lower energy state release blue-purple light photons
in proportion to the absorbed radiation.
*Light liberated is collected by an optical system (light guide) which directs
the light to a
Photomultiplier (PM) tube which converts the light to an electrical signal
(analog)
*The ADC takes the analog signal and converts it (quantizes it) to a digital
signal - a unique digital value for that level of luminescence - so the
computer can read it.
*Algorithms construct the image and the signal is converted back to an
analog signal for viewing on a monitor.