Study of secondary X-rays from radiographic intensifying screens

To reduce the radiation dose in radiology, fluorescent intensifying screens for X-ray films are used. They produce visible light which increases the efficiency of the film. In addition, there are two other effects that will degrade the image resolution. First, the gadolinium present in the screens produces X-rays isotropically. Second, the primary radiation can be scattered elastically (Rayleigh scattering) and inelastically (Compton scattering). The intensity and angular distribution of these secondary radiation were measured, showing that the ratio of secondary-to-primary radiation incident on the X-ray film is about 16%.