Abstract

The input signal to an x-ray imaging system is given¹ by the quantity, α |X₁-X₂|, where α is the area of the spatial resolution element and X₁ and X₂ are the X-ray exposures at points 1 and 2 in the image plane. Accordingly for a signal with a given magnitude, there is a tradeoff in the values of α and |X₁-X₂| such that a signal with high spatial resolution (small α) and high'contrast (X₂≪X₁) may be quantitatively equivalent to a signal with low spatial resolution (large α) and low contrast (X₂≲X₁).

© 1986 Optical Society of America