PENABUR International Kelapa Gading

Academic Year 2014-2015

Grade 12

REMOTE SENSING
X-RAYS
X-rays are produced by bombarding metal targets with high-speed electrons.
A typical spectrum of the X-rays

The spectrum consists of two components:

1. the continuous distribution with a sharp cut-off
at short wavelength
Explanation:
Bremmstrahlung radiation is the emitted
radiation because of the acceleration of a charged
particle.

2. a series of spikes which are characteristic

of the target material
Explanation:

Sharp peaks correspond to the emission line

spectrum of the target atoms. The electrons
excite the target electrons into lower energy
Continuous distribution of accelerations gives a levels. This process gives rise to the line
continuous distribution of wavelength of X-rays. spectrum.
A cut-off wavelength is the minimum
wavelength where the whole energy of the
electron is converted into the energy of one
photon, which is
hc
kinetic energy of electron=eV

where e is the electron charge, V is the potential

difference, h is the Planck constant, c is the speed
of light, and is the wavelength of the emitted
X-ray photon.

Yanoar Sarwono & Fielly Budiman

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PENABUR International Kelapa Gading

Academic Year 2014-2015
Grade 12

A simplified X-ray tube is shown below

Electrons are emitted from the heated cathode (by thermionic effect), accelerated through a large
potential difference (20 kV- 100 kV), bombard a metal anode. The anode is water cooled or spin
rapidly to increase the target area. The anode is held at earth potential.
The intensity of the X-ray beam is determined by the rate of arrival of electrons at the metal
target (the tube current). The hotter the cathode, the greater the tube current is.
The hardness of the X-ray beam (the penetration of the X-rays) is controlled by the accelerating
voltage between the cathode and the anode. The longer the wavelength, the softer X-ray is.
The effect of X-ray radiation: blackened the photographic plates, fluorescence in certain
materials,
The quality of the image produced depends on the sharpness and contrast of X-rays.
Sharpness is the edges of organs are clearly defined.
Factors that affect the sharpness are:
1. the area of the target anode (the smaller, the sharper)

Yanoar Sarwono & Fielly Budiman

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PENABUR International Kelapa Gading

Academic Year 2014-2015
Grade 12

2. the size of the aperture through which the X-ray beam passes after leaving the tube

3. A lead grip in front of the photographic film to absorb scattered X-ray photons

Factors affecting the contrast are: the exposure time, X-ray penetration, scattering of the X-ray
beam within the patients body.
In vacuum, the intensity of an X-ray beam, I is decreasing in proportional to the inverse of the
square of the distance from the source r 2 , thus I I 0 / r 2 .

In a medium, the transmitted intensity I is decreasing exponentially, given by

I I 0e x
where is the linear absorption coefficient (m-1), I 0 is the initial intensity, x is the thickness of
the medium (m).
The graph of the percentage transmission versus the thickness x is illustrated below

The half-value thickness x1/2 or HVT is the thickness of the medium required to reduce the
transmitted intensity to one half of its initial value. The relation of HVT x1/2 to the linear
absorption coefficient is given by
Yanoar Sarwono & Fielly Budiman

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PENABUR International Kelapa Gading

Academic Year 2014-2015
Grade 12
x1/2 ln 2

CT SCANNING
CT scanning is the computer techniques to get the three-dimensional image or slice through
a body. The aim of CT scanning is to make an image of a section through the body from
measurements made about its axis, as illustrated below

Voxels are series of small units of the section through the body. Pixel is a particular intensity of
the image of each voxel.
Below is a section of four voxels and the number on each voxel is the pixel:

If a beam of X-rays is from the left, the detectors will give readings of 5 and 9, and the
reconstructed voxels will be below

If the detectors and the X-ray tube are rotated through 45o, new detectors readings will be found
and will be added to the previous readings

Yanoar Sarwono & Fielly Budiman

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PENABUR International Kelapa Gading

Academic Year 2014-2015
Grade 12

The same procedure is repeated after rotating the X-ray tube and the detectors through a further
45o,

Yanoar Sarwono & Fielly Budiman

Page 29

PENABUR International Kelapa Gading

Academic Year 2014-2015
Grade 12

The final images are taken after rotating them further 45o,

The final pattern is shown below

In order to obtain the original pattern of pixels, two operations must be performed:
1. remove the background intensity. The background intensity is the total of each set of
detector readings, in this case 14 is deducted from each pixel
2. divide by three to allow for duplication of the views of the section

ULTRASOUND
Ultrasonic waves may be produced using a piezo-electric transducer. The basis of the transducer
is a piezo-electric crystal such as quartz. Two opposite sides of the crystal are coated with thin
layers of silver to act as electrical contacts as illustrated below

Yanoar Sarwono & Fielly Budiman

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PENABUR International Kelapa Gading

Academic Year 2014-2015
Grade 12

Quartz has a complex structure made up of a large number of repeating tetrahedral silicate units,
as illustrated below

The positions of the oxygen links are not rigidly fixed in these units or lattices. Movement of
them can be encouraged by applying an electric field.
The three conditions of the crystal are shown below
unstressed
compressed
extended

the centers of the positive and

the negative ions coincide, so
their effects are neutralized.

the positive silicon ions are attracted towards the cathode and
the negative oxygen ions towards the anode. This causes
distortion of the silicate units. The crystal may be thinner or
thicker

The action and reaction of the piezo-electric crystal is shown below

input
output
an alternating voltage across the silver
mechanical vibrations. In resonance, the
electrodes
oscillations are in the ultrasonic range
an ultrasonic wave (pressure variations)
alter the positions of positive and negative ions
thus result in a varying potential difference
A diagram of a typical piezo-electric transducer/receiver is illustrated below

Yanoar Sarwono & Fielly Budiman

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PENABUR International Kelapa Gading

Academic Year 2014-2015
Grade 12

Such devices operate in the MHz frequency range, up to 600 MHz.

When an ultrasound wave meets the boundary between two media, some of the wave energy is
reflected and some is transmitted, as shown below

For an incident intensity I, reflected intensity I R and transmitted intensity I T , the energy
conservation says
I IR IT
Reflection
Transmitted
For any medium,
The absorbed ultrasonic waves give rise the
the specific acoustic impedance Z is defined as temperature of the medium. This is used in
Z c
physiotherapy. Illustration of a parallel beam of
where c is the speed of the wave in the medium ultrasound waves of intensity I 0 incident on a
of density .
medium of thickness x
When a wave is incident normally on a boundary
between two media having specific acoustic
impedances of Z1 and Z 2 , the ratio I R / I of the
reflected intensity to the incident intensity is
given by

I R Z 2 Z1

I Z 2 Z1 2
2

The ratio I R / I is also known as the intensity

Yanoar Sarwono & Fielly Budiman

The intensity of the beam after passing through

the medium is related to the incident intensity
by
I I 0e kx
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PENABUR International Kelapa Gading

Academic Year 2014-2015
Grade 12

reflection coefficient or .

where k is the absorption coefficient.

The intensity reflection coefficient is very

large from air into soft tissue
2

430 1.63 106

1

6
430 1.63 10
In order that the ultrasound waves may be
transmitted from the transducer into the body, a
gel is used to fill any space between the
transducer and the skin.
The followings are how to diagnose internal body structures with the ultrasound:
1. the transducer is in contact with the skin, with a gel as a coupling medium
2. short pulses of ultrasound are transmitted into the body
3. the reflected pulses return to the transducer and are detected and are transformed into voltage
pulses and are processes to give an image on an oscilloscope screen.
4. echoes from a deeper body which tend to be of lower intensity will be more amplified
5. The time-base on the X-plates is adjusted so that all of the reflections are seen on the screen
for one scan.
There are two techniques to display an ultrasound scan:
1. A-scan: the transducer is held in one position to measure the distance of different boundaries
from the transducer

2. B-scan: combines a series of A-scans, taken from a range of different angles, to form a twodimensional picture.
The main advantage of ultrasonic scanning is that the health risk is lower, the portable and easy
to-use equipment, detection between soft tissues as well as between hard and soft tissues.

Yanoar Sarwono & Fielly Budiman

Page 33

PENABUR International Kelapa Gading

Academic Year 2014-2015
Grade 12

NUCLEAR MAGNETIC RESONANCE AND MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING

Why is there precession in nuclei when there is an applied magnetic field?
1. Many atomic nuclei behave as if they possess a spin because they have an odd number of
protons and/or an odd number of neutrons.
2. Their spin causes the nuclei of these atoms to behave as tiny magnets.
3. If an external magnetic field is applied to these atoms, they tend to line up in the same
direction as the magnetic field.
4. The alignment is not perfect and the nuclei rotate about the direction of the field as they spin.
The rotation about an axis while they are spinning is called precession .
The precession frequency, known as the Larmor frequency depends on the nucleus and the
strength of the magnetic field. The Larmor frequency is in the order of radio-frequency (RF)
region of electromagnetic spectrum.
The principles of the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) are below:
1. a short pulse of radio waves of frequency equal to the Larmor frequency is applied
2. the atoms will resonate, absorbing energy
3. the atoms will return to their original equilibrium state after a short period of time, called the
relaxation time, when the pulse ends.
4. the RF radiation is emitted by the atoms when they return to the equilibrium state
A diagram of a magnetic resonance scanner is

The principles of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI):

1. the person is placed between the poles of a very large magnet producing a uniform magnetic
field in excess of 1 Tesla so that all hydrogen nuclei within the person would have the same
Larmor frequency
2. a non-uniform magnetic field is applied to locate a particular position of hydrogen atoms
3. radio-frequency pulses are both transmitted to the person and detected by means of suitable
coils
Yanoar Sarwono & Fielly Budiman

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PENABUR International Kelapa Gading

Academic Year 2014-2015
Grade 12

NMR applet:

MRI applet:

Yanoar Sarwono & Fielly Budiman

Page 35

PENABUR International Kelapa Gading

Academic Year 2014-2015
Grade 12

PROBLEMS
1. 9702_w08_qp4#11
(a) Distinguish between the images produced by CT scanning and X-ray imaging.
(b) By reference to the principles of CT scanning, suggest why CT scanning could not be
developed before powerful computers were available.
Solution: (a) CT image: (thin) slice (through structure), any further detail e.g. built up from
many slices / 3-D image, X-ray image: shadow image (of whole structure) / 2-D image; (b)
X-ray image of slice taken from many different angles, these images are combined (and
processed), repeated for many different slices, to build up a 3-D image, 3-D image can be
rotated, computer required to store and process huge quantity of data
2. 9702_w07_qp4#9
(a) State what is meant by acoustic impedance.
(b) Explain why acoustic impedance is important when considering reflection of ultrasound
at the boundary between two media.
(c) Explain the principles behind the use of ultrasound to obtain diagnostic information
about structures within the body.
Solution: (a) product of density (of medium) and speed of sound (in medium); (b) difference in
acoustic impedance determines fraction of incident intensity that is reflected/amount of
reflection; (c) pulse of ultrasound (directed into body), reflected at boundary (between tissues),
(reflected pulse is) detected and processed, time for return of echo gives (information on) depth,
amount of reflection gives information on tissue structures
3. 9702_s09_qp4#11
(a) Explain the main principles behind the use of ultrasound to obtain diagnostic information
about internal body structures.
(b) Data for the acoustic impedances and absorption (attenuation) coefficients of muscle
and bone are given in Fig. 11.1.
acoustic impedance/ kg m2 s1 absorption coefficient/ m1
23
muscle
1.7 106
6
130
bone
6.3 10
Fig. 11.1
The intensity reflection coefficient is given by the expression

Z2
Z2

Z1

Z1

The attenuation of ultrasound in muscle follows a similar relation to the attenuation of

X-rays in matter.

Yanoar Sarwono & Fielly Budiman

Page 36

PENABUR International Kelapa Gading

Academic Year 2014-2015
Grade 12

A parallel beam of ultrasound of intensity I enters the surface of a layer of muscle of

thickness 4.1 cm as shown in Fig. 11.2.

Fig. 11.2
The ultrasound is reflected at a muscle-bone boundary and returns to the surface of the
muscle.
Calculate
(i) the intensity reflection coefficient at the muscle-bone boundary,
(ii) the fraction of the incident intensity that is transmitted from the surface of the muscle
to the surface of the bone,
(iii) the intensity, in terms of I, that is received back at the surface of the muscle.
Solution: (a) pulse of ultrasound, reflected at boundaries / boundary, received / detected (at
surface) by transducer, signal processed and displayed, time between transmission and receipt of
pulse gives (information about) depth of boundary, reflected intensity gives information as to
nature of boundary; (b) (i) coefficient = (Z2 Z1)2 / (Z2 + Z1)2= (6.3 1.7)2 / (6.3 + 1.7)2= 0.33,
(ii) fraction = exp(x)= exp(23 4.1 102)= 0.39, (iii) intensity = 0.33 0.392 I= 0.050 I
4. 9702_s08_qp4#10
Outline briefly the main principles of the use of magnetic resonance to obtain information
about internal body structures.
Solution: large / strong (constant) magnetic field, nuclei rotate about direction of field / precess,
radio frequency / r.f. pulse causes resonance in nuclei , nuclei absorb energy, (pulse) is at the
Larmor frequency, on relaxation / nuclei de-excite emit (pulse of) r.f., detected and processed,
non-uniform field (superimposed), allows for position of nuclei to be determined, and for
location of detection to be changed
5. 9702_s07_qp4#9
(a) Explain the principles behind the use of X-rays for imaging internal body structures.
(b) Describe how the image produced during CT scanning differs from that produced by
X-ray imaging.
Solution: (a) X-ray beam directed through body onto detector (plate), different tissues
absorb/attenuate beam by different amounts, giving shadow image of structures, any other
detail e.g. comment re sharpness or contrast; (b) X-ray image is flat OR 2-dimensional, CT scan
takes many images of a slice at different angles, these build up an image of a slice through the
body, series of images of slices is made, so that 3D image can be built up, image can then be
rotated

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