Imaging performance of polycrystalline BaFBr:Eu2+ storage phosphor plates

X-ray storage phosphor plates (SPP) initiate a new concept for recording X-ray radiographs, which are increasingly accepted in medical diagnostics and in scientific applications such as structure analysis and materials testing. The present study was undertaken to assess the impact of the median grain size and the fabrication process of BaFBr:Eu2+-based SPP on the image metrics which were characterized by photostimulated luminescence (PSL) sensitivity, modulation transfer function (MTF), Wiener spectrum (WS) and noise equivalent quanta (NEQ). To achieve the highest signal-to-noise ratio (NEQ) which was dependent on X-ray fluence and image spatial frequencies, the grain size has been optimized accordingly. Furthermore, the correlation between the packing structure of grains in the active layer and the granularity noise was investigated. Finally, it was found that for the imaging of Cu–Kα irradiation, which was a softer X-ray quantum energy compared to that used in the medical imaging, variation of the grain size had smaller impact on the MTF and the PSL.