Development of a dual-energy kinestatic charge detector

A design for a dual-energy Kinestatic Charge Detector (KCD) with segmented charge collection fingers is discussed. The front segment of the KCD charge collectors will produce a digital low-energy image and the back segments will produce a digital high-energy image. A gap between the front and back collectors acts as a mid filter to increase the separation between the mean energies absorbed in the front and back segments. This dual-energy KCD design was optimized by using computer simulations to maximize a figure of merit defined as the square of the signal-to-noise ratio divided by the average absorbed dose. The optimal KCD parameters are presented for a dual-energy KCD designed for mammography. Preliminary experimental data are given for a small non imaging dual-energy KCD research detector.