Nuclear scattering radiography

This method consists in producing three dimensional radiographs of samples that can be large by using medium energy proton beams (E/sub p / of the order of 1 GeV) and standard particle physics detection systems. For medical applications low radiation dose and fast data acquisition are required. A first step was taken at CERN where the solid angle of detection was increased so that a human head could be imaged with a radiation dose of 0.3 rad, and a faster acquisition rate but still leading to a prohibitive exposure time. Further improvement aims, by increasing the acquisition rate, to obtain such a radiograph in 20 minutes which would allow in vivo applications. (8 refs).