RISE reinforces in tomographic imaging

Tomography is a technique that, with the help of a light source, a rotation table, and a detector, can image an object in three dimensions. The light source sends out radiation onto the rotating object, the detector catches the light which has interacted with the object and created a projection image of the object at a specific angle. All projection images are combined digitally into a three-dimensional volume via a mathematical process entitled 3D reconstruction. In the computer, you can then apply virtual cut sections in the volume to study the material composition inside the object.

– The primary benefit of tomography is that you can study the inside of an object virtually, without having to apply destructive cuts or in any other way destroy the object. Tomography is used at the hospital when performing a CAT scan, but also to investigate archaeological findings, two cases where you want to study the inside of something, where it is of high importance not to destroy it, says Emanuel Larsson.

Tomography is used both in the development of pharmaceutical drugs, as well as in the automotive industry, whereas the latter aims to study automobile bodies more in close-up to detect potential cracks in the joints between metal, glue, and plastic. But also, the food industry sees the advantages of using tomography.

– At RISE we have e.g. studied how salt is distributed in bread, to find solutions for how to reduce Swede’s salt consumption. With the help of neutron tomography, we can exactly see where in the bread the salt is located and use this information to redistribute the salt thereby reducing the total salt concentration, with preserved taste, says Emanuel.

During the education the participants received a solid introduction of tomography, from how a tomograph works in practice, to image reconstruction and rendering of volumes in 3D. The participants also got the to carry out tomographic imaging of an object in real-time, by remotely controlling Emanuel’s self-built light tomograph. The kitchen-based light tomography (KBLT) was built by Emanuel for educational purposes and is complete with warning signals and sound effects, which you commonly have at a full-scale tomography beamline at a large-scale research infrastructure (LSRI).

The course participants now have a basic understanding of how tomography works, will be able to identify to which applications the technique could be used, as well as be able to carry out simpler tomographic imaging. The fact that the course was held digitally, came with some technical challenges, but Emanuel also saw some benefits with educating via Zoom.

– When a problem appeared during the practical exercises of the course, the participants could easily share their screen, so that everyone could follow when we solved the problem, which gave another dimension to the education. Even if this can be done also when everyone is in the same room, it seldomly happens practically, says Emanuel.

Are you interested in learning more about tomography? Please contact Carina Gatzinsky.