ABSTRACT
In this chapter, first a short history of Morpho Detection’s X-ray diffraction security-scanner for airports and the motivation for its newest design are given. The functional principle of the legacy X-ray diffraction scanner XRD3500 and its succeeding X-ray diffraction imaging system XDi are explained with a focus on the different detectors developed for these systems, which are a segmented high purity Germanium detector, a pixelated planar CdZnTe-detector, and a pixelated CdTe edge-on array detector. Their spectral response to irradiation with Americium and Cobalt is shown and characterized w.r.t. energy-resolution, intrinsic peak-efficiency, and peak-to-total ratio. Their thermal stability is investigated as well. The performance of the three different detector types is compared to each other based on the data acquired during small-scale production series, which allows to assess the suitability of room-temperature semiconductors for XDi. Finally, the principle of XDi threat detection is outlined using scatter data measured in an XDi system equipped with CdZnTe-detectors.
