We have developed and preliminary tested a new digital X-ray imaging sensor
based on a scintillating guide screen. The scintillating guides are used t
o channel the emitted visible light to the pixel detector. This enables us
to avoid the well-known tradeoff between detection efficiency and spatial r
esolution which is encountered when a non-patterned scintillating layer is
used on top of a CCD.
A prototype has been fabricated using microtechnologies. The scintillator i
s CsI:T1 and the low-index cladding material used to channel the light is s
ilicon dioxide. The performance of this prototype has been compared to that
of a thick CsI single crystal. The results concerning the spatial resoluti
on are quite promising and demonstrate a proof-of-principle. However, the p
erformance in terms of signal to noise ratio and sensitivity have to be imp
roved. These problems are currently addressed.