Wide X-ray spectrum photon counting computed tomography

1. A computed tomography (CT) imaging apparatus, comprising:

a radiation source configured to emit X-rays;

a plurality of photon-counting detectors configured to detect the X-rays emitted by the radiation source and generate a photon counting signal based on the detected X-rays; and

processing circuitry configured to

obtain a kV-waveform used by the radiation source to generate the X-rays during a scan of an object, and

adjust at least one energy threshold dividing the photon counting signal into a plurality of spectral bins in accordance with the obtained kV-waveform so that detected photon counts in the respective spectral bins are substantially equalized.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to perform a material basis decomposition in accordance with the plurality of spectral bins.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to perform the material basis decomposition in accordance with the obtained kV-waveform and at least one beam-hardening table.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising: a plurality of energy-integrating detectors configured to rotate together with the radiation source, wherein the plurality of photon-counting detectors are arranged at fixed, sparsely distributed positions.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising: a plurality of energy-integrating detectors configured to rotate together with the radiation source, wherein the photon-counting detectors are sparsely distributed among the energy-integrating detectors.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to perform a system calibration, which determines the at least one energy threshold dividing the photon counting signal into the plurality of spectral bins and determines at least one beam-hardening table.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein

the radiation source is further configured to emit the X-rays with an energy spectrum corresponding to a desired kV-waveform,

the desired kV-waveform is a square wave that switches between a first voltage level and a second voltage level of the X-ray source in accordance with a period and a duty cycle of the square wave, and

the second voltage level is different from the first voltage level.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the desired kV-waveform is determined by maximizing dose efficiencies for the object to be scanned.

9. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to

obtain the obtained kV-waveform by measuring a voltage of the X-ray source while performing an air scan during which the X-ray source is controlled according to the desired kV-waveform, and

verify the obtained kV-waveform in comparison with the desired kV-waveform.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to obtain the obtained kV-waveform by measuring a voltage of the X-ray source during the scan of the object.

11. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to obtain raw sinogram data during the scan of the object, and perform pre-reconstruction by correcting the obtained raw sinogram data for scatter and pileup effects.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to perform the scatter and pileup correction using the raw sinogram data, a linear detector response scatter component, a nonlinear detector response scatter component, and a nonlinear detector response pileup component.

13. A computed tomography (CT) imaging method,

comprising:

obtaining a kV-waveform used by a radiation source to generate X-rays during a scan of an object; and

adjusting at least one energy threshold dividing a photon counting signal obtained from a photon-counting detector into a plurality of spectral bins in according with the obtained kV-waveform so that detected photon counts in the respective spectral bins are substantially equalized.

14. The method of claim of claim 13 , further comprising performing a material basis decomposition in accordance with the plurality of spectral bins.

15. The method of claim 13 , further comprising scanning the object using a desired kV-waveform, wherein the desired kV-waveform is a square wave that switches between a first voltage level and a second voltage level of the X-ray source in accordance with a period and a duty cycle of the square wave, wherein the second voltage level is different from the first voltage level.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein the obtaining of the obtained kV-waveform further comprises obtaining the obtained kV-waveform by measuring a voltage of the X-ray source while performing an air scan during which the X-ray source is controlled according to the desired kV-waveform, and verifying the obtained kV-waveform in comparison with the desired kV-waveform.

17. The method of claim 13 , wherein the obtaining of the obtained kV-waveform further comprises measuring a voltage of the X-ray source during the scan of the object.

18. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:

performing a system calibration by determining the at least one energy threshold and determining at least one beam-hardening table.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing executable instructions, which when executed by a computer processor, cause the computer processor to execute a method comprising:

obtaining a kV-waveform used by a radiation source to generate X-rays during a scan of an object; and

adjusting at least one energy threshold of energy which divides a photon counting signal obtained from a photon-counting detector into a plurality of spectral bins in accordance with the obtained kV-waveform so that detected photon counts in the respective spectral bins are substantially equalized.

20. The method of claim 19 , further comprising:

performing a material basis decomposition in accordance with the plurality of spectral bins.