Applications of Filtered Bremsstrahlung Spectra in Radiologic Studies Part 1: Spectrum Properties and Optimal Energies

The spectral characteristics of a Bremsstrahlung radiation filtered by the K-edge absorption of an element is studied in respect to determination of material contents by x-ray transmission. A suitable model of the filtered spectrum is developed to investigate the measurement errors caused by the polyenergetic nonlinearity when such radiations are used as pseudo-monoenergetic sources. A performance criteria is established to determine the optimal energies for measurements in bone-water and iodine-water systems, when electronic noise is present and when data acquisition accuracy is limited.