Spectral imaging system and method

1. A method for spectral x-ray measurement using a photon counting x-ray detector (PCXD), the method comprising:

transmitting from an x-ray source a broad spectrum x-ray beam through an object;

detecting the transmitted x-ray beam with the photon counting x-ray detector (PCXD) to produce detected signals, wherein the detecting uses multiple detector layers in the PCXD to produce the detected signals such that each detector layer of the multiple detector layers produces at least two signals, each signal representing a detected x-ray intensity in a particular energy band;

processing with a computer the detected signals to produce a value representative of material characteristics of the object, wherein the processing uses both the detected signals as a function of detector layer and the detected signals as a function of the particular energy band.

2. The method of claim 1

wherein transmitting from an x-ray source the broad spectrum x-ray beam comprises performing a kV x-ray scan of an object using a CT system.

3. The method of claim 1

wherein detecting the transmitted x-ray beam with the photon counting x-ray detector (PCXD) comprises detecting attenuated x-ray signals with a multiple-layer depth-segmented energy-discriminating photon counting x-ray detector system.

4. The method of claim 1

wherein processing with a computer the detected signals to produce the value representative of material characteristics of the object comprises decomposing the detected signal into a linear combination of two selected basis materials; wherein the decomposing uses depth information contained in separate read-out channels of the multiple detector layers.

5. A device for spectral x-ray measurement comprising:

an x-ray source configured to transmit a broad spectrum x-ray beam through an object;

a photon counting x-ray detector (PCXD) configured to detect the transmitted x-ray beam to produce detected signals; wherein the photon counting x-ray detector (PCXD) has multiple detector layers such that each detector layer of the multiple detector layers produces at least two signals, each signal representing a detected x-ray intensity in a particular energy band;

a computer configured to process the detected signals to produce a value representative of material characteristics of the object, wherein the computer is further configured for processing the detected signals to use both the detected signals as a function of detector layer and the detected signals as a function of the particular energy band.

6. The device of claim 5

wherein the x-ray source and PCXD are components of a CT system.

7. The device of claim 5

wherein the PCXD is a multiple-layer depth-segmented energy-discriminating photon counting x-ray detector system.

8. The device of claim 5

wherein the computer is configured to decompose the detected signal into a linear combination of two selected basis materials using depth information contained in separate read-out channels of the multiple detector layers.

9. A method for spectral x-ray imaging using a photon counting x-ray detector (PCXD), the method comprising:

performing an x-ray scan of an object; wherein performing the scan comprises i) detecting by a multiple-layer depth-segmented energy-discriminating photon counting x-ray detector system a signal representing an attenuation of the object in at least two energy bands; where the multiple layers have separate read-out channels; where the signal comprises detected events grouped into energy bins and preserves depth information contained in the separate read-out channels;

decomposing the detected signal into a linear combination of two selected basis materials; wherein the decomposing uses the depth information contained in the separate read-out channels.

10. The method of claim 9

wherein performing an x-ray scan of an object comprises performing a computed tomography (CT) kV x-ray scan with a CT system.